Look What You Made Me Do'
by Eeva Spectre
Summary: Hey there,I'm back again. This time it's about the Tangled TV Series. :D The Story takes place subsequent to season 1 and is written from the view of Rapunzel. The Black Rocks are still a big problem and although several scientists have already tried to solve it, none of them could. Everyone gets desperate about the situation, but then Rapunzel developes a pretty crazy idea...
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1: ****I need your help**

The walls, the floor, the ceiling, even the torchlight that lit the way... – Everything seemed to be much darker down here than I remembered, and when I finally entered the prison cell, it seemed as if the light got shut out completely for that moment.

Varian was sitting in a corner of the small room. Motionless, with chains around his wrists and neck, gaze lowered to the grubby floor.

"Look, who came to visit me..." A crooked smile showed upon his face, when he finally lifted is gaze up to me.

I got a little scared when I saw his face again after all this time, for he'd gotten pretty pale since he had been locked away. - I mean, even paler than he had already been before. The little red on his cheeks had gone completely and the light freckles had become more kind of small shadow-spots on a white canvas. His eyes were heavily black and red underlined, which led me to the question, if he'd ever slept or eaten enough since he got locked down here...

"Welcome to my modest dwelling, your **highness**. If I'd known, I would've cleaned up first..."

He smirked oddly while eying me up intently. The way he did left a feeling of discomfort in my stomach, which even intensified when I realized that his once so lively blue eyes seemed to have lost their gleeming spark of zest for action which always had been so typical for this boy.

"Varian, I... I need your help."

"Oh." The expression on his face darkened and his voice almost went down to a whisper when he continued speaking:  
"You need my help...", he repeated. Then he started chuckling while his eyes started wandering unsteady around the walls of his prison cell.

"She needs your help, Varian, have you heard that? 'Guess, you should be a good boy then and go help your highness with her problem, shouldn't you? Oh, nevermind, that they threw you out of the palace when you asked them for **their** help as they **promised **you..." Setting his eyes back at me, he chuckled again.

"Varian-"

"Quiet!", he hissed all of a sudden, "You came here to ask me for help, yeah? Why don't you look at what you made me do first: I've lost everything beacuse of **you**. My father, my home, my freedom... Maybe, it would've been the best thing for everyone, if I had lost my life, too, instead of rotting slowly in that stupid prison cell! - And now, you just come here to ask me for my help... WHAT IN THE WORLD COULD EVER HAPPEN, TO MAKE ME **HELP YOU**? TELL ME!"

I backed when he started yelling at me all of a sudden and Pascal nearly fell off my shoulder. That was truly something, I hadn't expected to happen... Although I shouldn't have been all that surprised at all. I mean, he was right: I didn't keep my promises back then. I couldn't...

"Varian... I'm really sorry for all the things that happened back then..."  
Varian's eyes narrowed. But instead of starting to shout again, he put on the most saddest look I had ever seen and send his gaze down to the floor again.

"I counted on you...", he spoke in a soft but painful tone which truly made me imagine the pain he felt in his heart at that moment. „I trusted you... You were my only hope back then, but you let me down like an old rag, not worth to give a single thought to anymore..."

"Varian..." I kneeled down in front of the boy and tried to look him in the eyes. But Varian let his head hang down and stared to his feet.

"No! Don't... Don't touch me right now..."

I lowered my hand, which had been about to stroke the boy's shaggy hair in order to comfort him.

"I don't need that anymore..."

He looked at me with weary eyes, but still I had the impression that he was searching for something - or _someone_\- as he was always looking to the space _behind _me...

"You've come here all alone?"

I nodded.

"So, you must be pretty serious about your concern, aren't you?"

"Yes. Please, Varian, look: The Black Rocks are still spreading further and further all over the country and the people of Corona already have lost a lot of their livelihood..."

Now he really started to show some interest, although his expression still told me 'I already know that'.

"But there **is **still some hope left after all... The scientists have found some kind of a strange liquid, dripping from some of the rocks futher up in the north of the country."

Varians eyes widened for a second and then narrowed again. This time he seemed curious but still skeptical.  
"It's the thruth."

"And what exactly do you need **my **help with?"

"They weren't able to keep the liquid anywhere in and so they couldn't analyze it proper, yet..."  
"Ah! And now you want me to analyze it. Want the bad guy to continue his research on the 'moonrocks', because no one else could do it so far..."

"Y...Yes." I nervously scratched my foot forth and back. "You'll be a free man afterwards. No one will ever hunt you down, or convict you for any of the things you've done, if you help us... - I-"

"You **promise**?"  
Varian stared at me with an evil grin that set my teeth on edge before silence laid itself upon the room like a blanket.

"Fine.", Varian said after a while before the silence started to get really discomforting. "But how are we supposed to get me out of... this?"

He looked around the sparely illuminated cell and lifted his hands to show me the chains around his wrists.  
As if I had known he would ask, I started rummaging around in the pocket of my cape and drew out a formal looking peace of paper, which read 'Permission for the alchemist Varian to leave the dungeon for a special reason.' Signed King F.

"What? It wasn't so easy to get that, you know..."

I frowned, when Varian looked at me again in a pejorative way. He knew as well as I did, that this letter wasn't written by my father the king of Corona... - Anyway! It actually had been a good deal of work to fake it adequately and so I wasn't lying after all... Or at least not _too _much...

And, as luck was on our side, the job payed well.

The guards surveiing us outside the tiny room were clearly puzzled when I handed them the letter. But after a few more seconds, they nodded slowly and started to unchain Varian's neck. The chains around his wrists, however, stayed. "For your own safety, Princess Rapunzel", they said when both – Varian and I – left the tiny chamber and wordlessly headed for the corridor that lead to the Exit of the dungeon.


	2. Chapter 2

\- Hey, everyone. ^3^

First: Thank you for so many fews in so little time! :D

And also thanks to those who follow and have favored the story so far. :D

Lately, I received a message from another user, that the Chapter was broke. Thanks again for showing me. :)

I' ve looked it over again and fixed the problem, (At least, I hope so.) so you should be able to read the 2nd chapter now properly. If not, I'll have to upload the chapter again, which means, it could take a little more time...

Nevertheless, thanks for reading, again! And I hope, you'll enjoy the rest of the story, too.

Love, Eeva :)

**CHAPTER 2: Not alone!**

"I still can't believe, this really worked.", Varian said when we stepped outside into the light of the sinking sun. He blinked his eyes heavily due to the unfamiliar brightness, but I could feel that he also enjoyed the fresh air.

"Me neither." The voice was as strict and doubtful as always.

"Cassandra!?" I felt a heavy lump in my throat when I saw my friend standing right in front of me, watching the both of us with piercing eyes.

"But how... We left the dungeon extra through the secret entrance!" I had a hard time understanding how she had managed to find out where I went. I didn't tell anybody about my plan, but ,yet, Cassandra was here. - And Eugene, too!

I wished, I would have been able to disappear, right at that very moment when I saw the love of my life leaning on the wall next to Cassandra. Varian must have had similar thoughts, for he didn't't even manage look at the other both.

"What?", Cassandra asked, while she was eying us up really critical, "Do you really think, I'd let you do something that dangerous **alone**?!

"She's right, Blondie. You should've informed me before going on a journey all alone..."

"Us. She should've informed **us**."

Cassandra sighed loudly.

"As I just said: I won't let you do things like that **alone**..."

Silently, I looked at Eugene.

"Oh. **He **is just there. As always..."

Cassandra snorted disparaging when Eugene gave her a not so amused look from the side.

"Nevertheless, she told me, what you were about to do.", he said, "And I can't believe, you actually did that..."

His gaze shifted between Varian and me, because he really couldn't believe what was happening.

"How did you know, where I was going?", I asked, "I mean, I didn't even tell you that I was **planning** to go out..."

"I know everything."

Cassandra folded her arms after shoving Eugene aside, who had stepped a little bit in front of her. Then she fixed me with her gaze and asked: " And now? What was your plan after getting out of the dungeon? Going on a dangerous journey alone without any tools, clothes, or even food? Just wandering, getting sick and starve somewhere in the middle of Nowhere? You both are just pretty much the same..."

She furrowed her brow and sighed again. Then, she turned around to open the Panniers on the back of Fidella and started rummaging around for a few seconds.

" I'm pretty sure, you'll need those...", she said when she turned to us again and threw a smaller shoulderbag in Varian's direction, who barely managed to catch it with his hands still chained together.

The alchemist's eyes widened in surprise.

"These are..."

"Don't thank me. And don't ask, what I had to do to get them.", Cassandra harrumphed while closing the Panniers. I guess, she had stolen them, for these were Varian's personal belongings - and they had been locked away, too, after he got caught.

"Is everyone ready?", she asked then and backed her horse. Eugene took my hand and helped me to get on Maximus' back before setting himself behind me in the saddle.

"**He's** riding with me.", Cassandra claimed, when she saw me looking at Varian with questions in my eyes. Meanwhile, the alchemist already seemed to regret his decision to help us, for he didn't move at all and just looked irritated from one person to the next. Or maybe, he just wasn't sure, whether Cassandra would throw him off Fidella's back at full speed or not. Something, I understood very well, as he had nearly killed her just one month ago...

"Don't tell me, you've never been on a horse's back before..." She looked at Varian who still seemed doubtful whether he could approach her and Fidella safely.

"Oh, boy! Just shake a leg and get on that horse, kid!", Eugene wheezed when he all of a sudden lifted up the young alchemist and put him on Fidella's back.

Varian shrieked like a girl and twisted in Eugenes arms until he finally got him set in the saddle in front of Cassandra.

"I hadn't even realized my dear climbing down Max's back again, but ,well, there he was, helping Varian to speed up his decisions a little bit...

I couldn't hold back a chuckling noise, although I wasn't sure if it had been such a good idea to touch Varian just like that. The boy was trembling all over, clutching his hands into Fidella's forelock and biting his lip nervously.

"Calm down, Varian. Nobody's gonna hurt you...", Cassandra tried to reassure him while waiting for Eugene to get back on Max and tightening Fidella's strings a little.

"Everyone ready to rock and roll, **now**? Yes? Great."

With this, she flicked Fidella's strings and we started off with our journey to the north to try our best to find some answers.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, everyone! :D

I'm back again with a new Chapter. :)

First of all: Thank you so much, guys for all the views, the favs, comments and follows. I'm so happy, that so many people like the story. And, I hope, you all will continue enjoying the story until the very end of it. I'll do my very best to make you do so, I promise! XD

Until next time!

Cya^^

Love, Eeva^^

**CHAPTER 3: Going North Part 1 – Flynn's a win!**

I guess, Cassandra did some research on her own, before following me down to the dungeons. Otherwise, she wouldn't have known where to lead us. I'm pretty sure, she also heard about the results, the scientists had brought to my parents. Or, maybe she just observed me well enough without having me know it. Whatever it was in the end: We were on the right way. That was something, I was completely sure of, as I had managed to take a peek into the notes of some of the scientists after the news of the strange liquid reached the palace. It had been difficult, but at least, I found out, where our research had to begin.

"We'll stay some yards into the wood.", Eugene proposed, when we reached the edge of a small forest. The sun had already set and the night was lit by a bright fullmoon and stars. We already had travelled a quarter of the way without any bigger problems. Still, it would have been a bad idea to continue the journey now, as everyone seemed already pretty tired. The hours of travelling had been really long and the weather also had started to change. From a warm springlike sunset in the city to a fresh and autumnlike night out.

We all agreed and set up a small camp on a small clearing between some deciduous trees. While Eugene lit a fire, Cassandra handed a coat to each of us. Then she, Varian and I went on a search for wood, while Eugene kept the fire burning.

Later on, we sat chattering around the warm campfire. Eugene was telling some Flynn Rider Story, which made Cassandra roll her eyes, while Varian and I were listening intimately. It truly seemed, as if the former was regretting the fact that his former idol had turned against him, too, more than one month ago...

I clearly remember the refulgence in his eyes, when Eugene came to his lab back then and he actually met the legendary Flynn Rider himself...

It was so sad that it had to be this way in the end. If only things had turned out different back then...

Still, Varian and I listened silently untill Cassandra mentioned, that she would be off for some time to collect some more wood for the fire.

"C'mon, Cassandra!", Eugene whined theatrically, "My story wasn't all that bad, was it?"

Hopefully, he looked at Varian and me.

I gave him a friendly smile, while Varian just shook his head.

"In fact, the story was quite interesting", he explained, "A little loose from time to time, but all in all quite okey. Whereat, it should be possible to prove the illogical sounding parts by doing some tests and -"

"**Really**?", Cassandra wrinkled her nose. "You don't tell me, you believe that far-fetched horrible cock-and-bull story..."

"It really wasn't all that bad...", I tried to keep the peace and soon got some unexpected help with it:

"But, it's a **Flynn Rider Story**, Cassandra...!", Varian bursted out, silencing immediately, when Cassandra gave him one short look which could curdle one's blood.

"There! You heard it, Cobra-Lady, **They** like my stories..."

Eugene pranced and gave us a big and really confidend smile.

"Just pride yourself on it, 'Master of thieves'...", Cassandra spoke condescending.

"Who do you call, 'Master of thieves', little lady?"

All of us whirled around into the direction, the unknown voice had come from.

The big, bearded figure of a man unhinged itself out of the shadows, that surrounded the clearing.

"Who are you ?"

"Me? Well, **I'm** the master of thieves.", he explained with a faint smile, "And you're my prey. - Go, get 'em, boys!"

All of a sudden, the shadows started coming to life and more and more figures unhinged, starting to approach us.

"That doesn't look very good...", Varian whispered, while observing every move, the strange looking figures made towards us, quicker and quicker.

"No, it doesn't.", Cassandra agreed, her hand slowly wandering to the sword on her side.

"Ha! Only over my dead body, you ugly, old deadbeat!", Eugene yelled all of a sudden and attacked.

Whatever happened after this, it happened really fast:

Eugene and Max attacked the first two of the tramps attacking us, while Cassandra and Fidella took care of two more of them. I somehow managed to pick a fryingpan out of our luggage and smashed another one. Meanwhile, Varian was struggeling to evade the attacks of a nearly toothless, one-eyed colossus, throwing his big battle axe down at him again and again.

"I thought, you were thieves, not **murderers**!", I snapped and banged another thief with the flat side of my frying pan. It sank to the ground inconsciously and offered me a chance, to get closer to my friends again.

"'Guess, that's all the same where those guys come from...", Eugene conjectured, ducking down under the attack of a massive mace. Then he striked back, hitting the thief right into the pit of his stomach whit the knob of his sword.

On the other side, Varian finally managed to get rid of the colossus, too, by tumbling backwards over a root, landing on the floor and grabbing the thickest stick, he could find. And throwing it right into the enemies pace.

The colossus stumbled and fell to the floor, but Varian managed to roll aside and get back to his feet somehow.

"Come on, come on! There must be something...", he murmured a little stressed, while rummaging around his shoulderbag a bit panicked. Just then, another attack hit the tree next to the alchemist with a bursting sound. This time it was kind of a halberd, whose blade whizzed past him only a few inches.

"Are you serious!?", he barked in disbelief, "Don't you have **anything** smaller?!"

It was quite a chaotic situation and it seemed, that we were about to lose the fight, when all of a sudden a loud shouting sounded all over the clearing:

"**HALT**!"

The tramps stopped attacking us immediately and turned in the direction of the voice. Cassandra, Varian and I stopped fighting, too, and also looked in the direction where the voice had come from.

"Stop that thing, boys!" It was the bearded giant that seemed to be the boss of the group. He stood right in front of Eugene, sword in hand – and eyes widened in mere disbelief. "Don't ya lay one more dirty finger on them... Don't ya know, who these guys are? That's master Flynn and his buddies!"

Eugene grimaced, while the bigger guy lowered his sword. He seemed a bit insecure, whether he should give up his cover, but then he also lowered his weapon – and just got hugged by the big one.  
"Flynn Rider!?", one of the men next to me asked in the direction of his boss, "Ya mean, **the** Flynn Rider, Cap'?"

"Yeah. **The** Flynn Rider." He smirked at Eugene who smirked back and signaled us to stay calm.

"Wow! That's so great!", one of the men said and laughed, while turning to Eugene and the 'Cap'.

"Master Flynn!", another one soon claimed Eugene's attention, „Is it true, that you -"

The tramps kept closing in on Eugene, who seemed half irritated and half honored about so much attention.

"Mister Ryder! It's such an honor to meet you! I'm your biggest fan!"

"No! **I** am!", Varian blurted out, all of a sudden, "I mean... I... I **was**..." He looked caught with bright red ears and nervously scratched his head. Well, it seemed, as if absolutely nothing could ever change the fact, that this boy just loved Flynn Rider. Even, if it wasn't the real Flynn Rider, at all...

"Yo, kid!"

A deep and rough vioce addressed him from behind. It was the colossus who had attacked him with his axe a few minutes ago. Varian flinched and seemed to shrink a little bit, when he realized the person speaking to him.

"Did ya read the story with the one-eyed infamous dragon?"

Varian blinked irritated.

"You mean, the one in which Flynn defeated the the keeper of the treasure at Dark Wood Mountain?", he asked now in excitement.

"Yeah! Right, boy"

"Of course, I did!", he answered, „That was one of the best Flynn Rider stories ever written down!"

He gave the big guy an even bigger smile and within a second, they wandered back to our campfire together, exchanging their favorite storyparts about their idol.

"Flynn! Could you give me an autograph for my little sister? And one for my gran'ma, too?"

"Master Flynn! Could you show me your famous sword-technique, please?"

"Flynn! I tattooed your name on my left buttock – wanna see?"

And a lot more of strange and cheering comments and request of all kinds soon surrounded Eugene and the Captain of the tramps, while they also headed back in the direction of the fire. It really seemed as if the former was enjoying the sudden hustle and bustle around his fake identity, for he was now smiling and acting towards the other man like they were old buddies.

"They gotta be kidding...", Cassandra moaned unbelieving. After it, she packed away her own weapon and sighed once more.

"Come on, Cas!", I said and patted her shoulder friendly, "At least, they're not trying to kill us anymore... - Why not give them a second chance? Maybe, they are actually quite okey..."

Then, I gave her a cheering smile and grabbed her by her arm to take her back to the fire with me, too.


	4. Chapter 4

Finally, Chapter 4! Ye~ey! XD

Sorry for taking so much time. That actually wasn't the plan so far. But as my working hours have changed recently, things got a little complicated. V_V'

Which means: The following chapters might also take some more time as usual. But the story will continue as soon as possible. So, please be patient, okey? :)

In the meantime, enjoy reading and don't be shy to tell me what you liked, disliked, or think, that should have been written different.

Love, Eeva :D

**Chapter 4: Going North Part 2 – The travellers and the beast**

The chattering continued, interrupted by the one or the other discussion about more stories, favorite parts of those stories and alternatives. As the night went on, the fire went out and we all finally managed to get some hours of sleep. But, when I woke up again, Cassandra was already sitting next to me, eyes open and scanning the clearing.

"What's wrong, Cas?", I asked, still a bit sleepy while rubbing my eyes.  
It must have been around early morning, for the sky already began to lighten up with the first rays of sunlight.

"I thought, I heard something", Cassandra answered, not even looking at me.

"Don't panic, Cas...", I murmured and sat up. Taking a look around the clearing myself, I couldn't spot anything dangerous.  
"We're outside in a wood... There sure are lots of noises, you know..." I looked again, but as I still couldn't see anything alarming, I just patted my friend on her shoulder and grinned cheeringly.

"**Maybe**, it was just the snore of the guys around you heard?", I proposed. But Cassandra still seemed to be eager for hearing things threatening us...

"Over there!", she said, pointing in the direction of some thick looking underwood.

"Where? I don't see anything." My eyes pierced the underwood, which was still as an underwood could ever be.

"Mmmmh... What's all the fuzz about so early in the morning, ladies...?"

Next to my other side, Eugene woke up. Yawning, he sat up, too, and looked at me questioning.

"Cas said, she heard and saw something."

Eugene blinked and started looking around the clearing, too. Then he looked at Cassandra with a broad grin in his face.

"Of course, she did.", he said while stretching ample, "We're in the woods! There's lots of noises and stuff. The wind in the trees, animals, more animals... **Those** guys there..." He gestured around us and pointed at the tramps who still sounded eager to saw down the whole forest at once.

"Getting paranoid outside the town walls, aren't we, our 'braveness'?", he then joked at Cassandra and gave me a good-morning kiss on the cheek.  
"That's all just normal, Blondy. Nothing to worry about, believe me. I'd **know**, if there actually would be danger ahead, because I-"  
"SHH! Quiet, you dork...", Cassandra hissed all of a sudden and put her hand to her sword, "Just look over there..."

Just as Eugene followed her gaze, Fidella and Max also started to get uneasy.

"Wha-"  
"There!"

This time, I saw it, too: A tall figure, moving in the shadows around the clearing. Basically the same scenario as last night, but something was different this time. The figure seemed to be alone. And it clearly didn't look like a human beeing.

"Quick! Wake the others!", Cassandra commanded us, after shoving Varian to wake up, who – to my surprise- had curled up pretty close next to her in the grass.

"Mh? What's wrong, Cassy...?", he asked, still half asleep.

"Cassandra.", she snapped, heading in fidellas direction, to keep her clam, "And: No time for explanation, now. This really could get ugly..."

A bloodcurling roar woke the ones, that weren't already awake.

"My... **So** loud..."

"Somebodie's forgot to breakfast properly, or what's this noise here for?"

The bearded boss of the tramps – Who by the way had himself introduced as 'Horst the Slayer' last night. - yawned loudly and grinned. But pretty soon, he got pretty serious again, when he realized, nobody was laughing at the joke.  
"Why so serious all that earl- WHOA! What the heck is **this**?!"

His eyes widened in shock, when he saw the distorted figure stepping on the clearing.  
It looked like a giant... well... I actually didn't know, what exactly it did look like.  
It had a big head, ears like a rabbit, but it was tenth the size of a small dog. Thick fur, broad shoulders, strong paws and claws and sharp teeth, with which it started attacking us right away.

"Yeah! That's what ya need first place after falling outta bed, isn't it?"

Horst and his men were the first to reattack, but to our horror, they didn't succeed at all.

"Impossible!" The one-eyed tramp with the axe cursed. He somehow managed to get through the claws and teeth and hit the monster with his axe. Which broke immediately after hitting the thick fur of the strange animal.

Then a strong paw hit the man against his chest and threw him aside like nothing. Then it moved through the rest of the tramps like they were made of cardboard.

"Our weapons don't seem to work here, boys! Gotta think of something else to get outta this... - Flynn!"

Oh, no! They were referring to the the adventures of their hero, defeating monsters, warlords and dragons...  
I mean: Eugene was kind of a smart and brave man, of course! But this was pretty much not his subject at all...

"It looks like the transformed racoon", he said, but I was pretty sure, he wouldn't let me touch that animal, "You remember? The one that rioted Corona a month ago..."

"Then maybe the princess should do the same as what she did to Rüdiger", Varian promptly spoke out the rest of what hadn't just been Eugene's and my thoughts.

"Ok! I'll try..."

"No, you won't!"

Cassandra held me back, when I tried to face the animal, which was still approaching us.

"But, I have to try it, Cas! Maybe, it'll work..."

"Are you kidding?! I won't let you touch that thing, Raps!"

"Then, maybe, we should just stop arguing and **run**!"

Eugene grabbed my hand and we ran.

First, there were Cassandra, Varian, Eugene, Max, Fidella, Pascal and me. Behind us, there was the monster, hard on our heels. And behind the monster, there were Horst and his men.

"Hang on, kids!", he yelled, "We'll help you! Somehow..."

Eugene looked back over his shoulder.  
"That's cool!", he shouted commendatory.

"Yeah! But better be fast, guys!", Cassandra added, while looking for another way, as our path through the wood and underwood had led us into an even worse situation than before. In front of us spread a fresh green plane, lit by the morningsun – but not endless after all. Shortly said: A dead end, as the plane ended at a crag, which looked quite too deep to wanna fall in.

"Stop, Fidella!", Cassandra shouted and pulled Fidella's rein to make her stop, shortly before the edge of the abyss. Eugene, Varian, Max and me also managed to stop in time. But there still was the monster behind us. And it didn't look, as if it was also up to stop so soon...

"Lars! NOW!"

Suddenly a big part of what used to be a trunk slid over the grassy plane – and straight into the monster's path! Seemed, as if someone had learned from the fight yesterday...

The animal groaned and stumbled, but it still didn't stop.

"Out of the way, kiddos!", Horst shouted, while he and two other men ran towards the monster. Then, he gave them an unspoken commando and all three of them jumped and crashed against the stumbling monster.

Not to slow it down, but to shove it over the edge of the crag!

"Blondy! Max! Quick!"

Eugene grabbed me with one arm and pulled me forward and then aside. With the other hand, he pulled Max's rein, to get him out of the path, too. On our other side, Cas, Varian and Fidella tried the same, but only Fidella was fast enough, to evade the tumbling monster, still shoved ahead by Horst and his men. Cassandra and Varian instead were hit by a flailing paw and thrown straight over the edge of the abyss, together with the roaring and flailing monster-animal.

"No!"

Eugene tried to hold me back, but I broke away from his hands and ran towards the edge of the abyss.  
For a moment, I just stared down the immense depth and the last thing, I heard was aroar and then Varian's voice when he ordered Cassandra, to hold on to him. Then, all of them were completely out of sight.

To make sure, this wasn't the **last** time, I had seen them, I immediately opened my hair, commanded Eugene and the tramps, to cling to it, grabbed one of the lighter looking weapons of our new friends and jumped after Cassandra and Varian.

The weapon raised my weight, so I fell down pretty fast, just as I had planned. Right now, I had to trust Eugene and the other men, for the lifes of three people lay in their hands. And I just hoped, that it wouldn't be already too late for two of them...

The fall lasted a little, but then, I saw them: Cassandra and Varian.

Cas was cowering on a thick branch, which grew out of the rocky wall of the crag, trying to reach Varian, who hung further ahead of the branch. He somehow seemed to have managed to cling to the branch with the chain of his handcuffs and from the look on Cassandra's face, it seemed, as if this had saved both of their lives...

I let go of the weapon and slowed down my fall.

"Hang in there, Varian!", I adressed the young alchemist and tried to land with my feet straight on the branch to help him climb up.

"No, not there!", Cassandra and Varian yelled of one voice, but it was already to late. Just from looking at it, I didn't see, that the branch was already partly decayed, and when I stepped on it, it the frontpart with Varian and me on it simply snapped and sent us further down the abyss.

Or, at least, we were supposed to fall further down. But Cassandra quickly jumped forward and grabbed Varian by his chains, to save him from falling. And to avoid her falling after him, as Cassandra had actually left the branch, I grabbed her by her waist and clung to her as tight, as possible, the other hand still on my hair, to avoid us all from falling.

"Eugene! Horst!", I then shouted upwards, "It's me, Rapunzel! Can you hear me? We're alive and I got them! Now, we need to get back up again..."

With a short laughter in relief, I told Cas and Varian to hold on to my hair.  
"Don't worry. We'll be up there in a minute.", I smiled, as they did as I told them. And just in time, a strong pulling from above started to lift us back up the cliff.

Quite in relief, we crawled up the last few inches and back on top of the crag on our own, where we were welcomed by our other friends.

"Blondy! I'm so happy, that you didn't end up as pancakes down there!" Eugene took me in his arms and gave me a short kiss.  
"Me, too.", I hugged Eugene and Cassandra, but left Varian out, remembering him refusing such things recently – although, it was pretty hard for me to do so.

"It was such a big luck, that Cassandra and Varian had caught this branch that saved them from falling further down."

"Yes, it was.", Eugene agreed, "Although, you could have left **her** sit down there on the branch until we return from our mission. I guess, it would be the most relaxed adventure ever, wouldn't it?"

He grinned and Cassandra grinded her teeth.

"Oh, just keep your mouth shut, you old powder puff!, she gnarled, "**You **are just a pain in the- **Oh**, **no**!"

Horst, his men, Eugene, Varian and me, all turned into the direction, Cassandra was looking.  
"I thought, it's gone...", she harrumphed, but the sound of worry was really clear in her voice.

The monster had survived the fall down the abyss, too and made it back upwards shortly after us. Something that made me pretty happy on the one hand. But, on the other hand, it wasn't all that wonderful, because, it attacked us again. And this time, it seemed really pissed off.

Ok. **Maybe**, I would have reacted in just the same way, if somebody had tried to kill me by shoving me down a crag...

Nevertheless: We were still in danger.

Horst and his men grabbed their weapons a little stronger and Eugene and Cassandra pulled out theirs, too, to at least **look** well prepared for what was coming.

The animal kept running towards us, while we couldn't do anything else but standing at the edge of an abyss.

"Just do something!", Cassandra ordered Eugene, who stood next to her, sword in hand and brain working how to get us probably all out of this.

"Why me? **You** always claim to be the **smart** one here..."  
"Stop quarreling, you both!", I interfered, "Better think and-"  
"I got it!" Varian shouted all of a sudden from somewhere near behind us, "Get out of the way!"

Suddenly a small, crystal-ball-like looking thing flew past us and hit the grass in front of the monster to break instantly and spill out a purple substance.

When the monster trampled into it, it got stuck immediately. Roaring and winding, it tried to free itself, but it was trapped.

"Good job, Varian!", I praised him, but soon silenced in surprise, when the boy suddenly rushed forward and pushed me hard in the back – and towards the rioting animal!

"Blondy!"

"Rapunzel!"

Cassandra moved quick enough to prevent the worst and threw her sword into the direction of the monster, which actually snapped the cold metal and broke it with the power of his teeth. Lucky me. Because, if Cas hadn't reacted like this, it would have been me, who got crushed by the monster's jaws. So, I just tumbled against the shaggy fur and tryed to steady by grasping the dust-stained hair and bumping against the chest – I guess- of the monster.

All of a sudden, my hair started to overflow with shiny yellow, and only a few seconds later, the monster was gone and I was sitting on the grass.

"It really worked!", I heard Varian cheer, "So, my theory was right..."

"What... What was that?!"

Quite irritated, I took a look around, while Cassandra and Eugene ran fast-paced into my direction.

"Blondy! Are you okey?", Eugene asked hectically, while examining me from head to toe.

"Raps... Did it do something to you?", Cassandra asked, pretty worried, too.

"No. I'm okey..."

"Really?"

I nodded.

"Thank God.", Cas sighed. Then she turned towards Varian:

"Have you gone mad, or something?!", she barked, eyes narrowed in anger, "You almost got her killed, you lunatic crackpot!"

She raised and tried to take a step in Varian's direction, but couldn't leave the space next to me. Just as Eugene and myself, as Varian's crystal ball had glued us all to the floor.

"Gnnn! Wonderful!", she snapped, "What kind of 'theory' are you just talking about anyway? That was just- "

"Cassandra, wait!"

I grabbed her arm and prevented her from throwing her knive at the alchemist, who had silenced immediately as soon as she had started yelling at him.  
"Stop it! Don't hurt him! He just **saved** us... - See?"

I pointed to a place next to me and Eugene, who was also glued to the ground. Small, white-purple from the glue, still fluffy and clearly not evil, there was sitting our former monster, who had actually returned to its normal form after I had touched it.

"Don't be afraid, little one. Nobody's going to hurt you here..."  
I tried to pet the rabbit, but my hands were stuck in the purple bulk around us.

"I hate to admit it, but she's right, Cobra-Lady", Eugene agreed to my own surprise, although he didn't seem too happy about what had happened either, "He saved us. Risky as something, but, yeah: He really saved us."

"They're right, Missy", one of the tramps who had also walked over to us agreed, too.  
"Smart kid he is.", another one admitted and nodded appreciative.

"This boy's really got guts, Lady."  
Even Horst was on our side. He patted Varian cheeringly on his shoulder and smiled, but the young alchemist didn't seem to know, wheter he should smile back or just continue staring down to the grassy floor under his boots.

He decided to do the latter and kept watching something that wasn't there, while Horst patted his hair like a big brother and actually thanked him for what he had done.

"Please don't feel offended, Princess", he explained, „Nor should you, Master Flynn. But, I guess without Master Varian's doing, we still would be trying not to be eaten by a mutated rabbit, wouldn't we?"

He grinned, when he saw the look on Cassandra's and Eugene's faces, for him calling Varian 'Master'. Seemed, as if he really thought pretty much of Varian's methods to solve problems...

"Now, let me help ya outta that mess there..."

But before he could walk over to us, Varian stopped him for a moment.

"Take this one.", he murmured, searching his shoulderbag and dragging out a small vial with another liquid in it, "A few drops and the glue will disappear."

He handed the vial over to Horst, who thanked him again and took it pretty cautious in his big fingers.

After we were free again, the rabbit ran away as if chased by foxes. Eugene, Cassandra and I straightened our clothes and were just ready to move on. At least Eugene and I were. Cassandra still not seemed as if she wanted to go past the events and eyed Varian with clear disappointment in her eyes.

"We should go now.", she agreed after some time, turning back to us, her voice as cold as ice.

"Cas...", I tried to ease the situation a little, but didn't succeed so far. For this reason, I decided to follow Eugene back to where he had left Max and Fidella. Pascal was there, too.  
"Everything's okey, my friends.", I explained and petted Max on his neck, after putting Pascal back on my shoulder. Afterward, we went back to the clearing, where we had left the rest of the tramps.

To my relief, everyone was allright, when we arrived. Apart from the one or the other smaller scratch, but that wasn't anything to talk about for long.

"Take this, guys. Should last for about two days until ya reach the next village.", Horst said, when we finally said goodbye to him and his tramps. He gave us some food and fresh water, which he had ordered his men to bring from their village that had to be not far away from the clearing.

"You're sure, ya don't need escort on your way further north?", he asked, "Maybe, there are more of those beasts around here..."

"Let's not hope so!" I laughed friendly and shook my head. "Thank you so much for your help, guys."

I smiled brightly at the men who grinned and smiled back. Some of them even waved us goodbye, when we finally left the forest and entered the grassland around noon.

"Raps? What's wrong?", Cassandra asked, when I stopped for a moment to look over the wide, grass-grown planes.

"Nothing. It's just, well,... This is the first time ever, I've been **this** far away from Corona."

My eyes scanned the surrounding curiously. From the look on their faces, I could tell, that this was the first time for my friends beeing that far from home, too.

"Don't worry, Raps. We'll make the cut.", Cassandra said, "**If there aren't any more stupid and dangerous ideas, of course**..."

She shot a glimpse at Varian, who furrowed his brows, but stayed silent.

"Maybe, he should ride with someone else for a while...", I proposed. This time not only Varian furrowed his brows, but Eugene and Cassandra did, too. Even Max and Pascal seemed pretty skeptical.  
"What? I just thought, it might be a good idea..."  
"I guess, I'll better walk.", Varian said and started to go forward.  
"But, it will take **ages**, if we just walk the whole way."

"She's right.", Eugene said then he pointed at Cassandra, " Sure, that poison-spitting, ice floe here might not be the best travelling partner so far..."

"Eugene!"

"But, if we actually are going to **walk**, there are two things that might happen, which are **not** the best of all results. First, it will take time that we probably don't have. And second: All of us will be totally exhausted, when we arrive. How are we supposed to solve any kind of puzzle like that?"

Varian had stopped and eyed Eugene in a way which led me to the conclusion, that he seemed to want to trust his words but wasn't sure, if he could.

No wonder, as the whole situation had already been difficult before the journey had even started. And Cassandra scolding him for putting me in danger made it twice as hard for Varian to open up towards us again...

"I wasn't talking about all of us walking. Actually, I just thought about myself doing that.", he finally explained.

"But that would only slow us down." Cassandra sighed and held out a hand towards him. "Come on, Varian. Don't be such a princess... - No offense, Raps."  
"It's okey."

"I'm not.", Varian replied, but didn't respond to her hand anyway, "Remember, what you called me? Wouldn't it be dangerous to have someone so mad that close?"

Cassandra took back her hand, frowning.

"Hey! How about, you ride along with me, then, Varian?" I smiled and hoped, to disarm the whole thing before it could get any worse. But instead of saying yes, Varian just gave me a look which clearly said NO.

"Well... How about, the **boys** riding together then...?" I grinned slightly insecure, while Max neighed shortly. Varian looked at Eugene again, still not knowing, if to agree. But then, he finally nodded.  
"Blondy!", Eugene hissed, while Max was neighing again.

"Don't worry, guys. Everything will be alright, I promise." Halfway happy, I walked over to Cassandra and Fidella and swung myself on the horse's back. Cassandra joined me short time after. And, I was really happy to see Varian try to climb on Maximus' back on his very own. And of course, to have Eugene helping him, when he didn't manage to do so properly.

"Not that afraid of horseshoe-wearers anymore, hm?", he grinned and swung himself into the saddle behind the alchemist.

"Sure, it wasn't your best idea to put my girlfriend in danger", he said, "But everything went out quite well, didn't it? So, don't mind **her** anyway. Terror-Cas's just always as 'friendly' as that."

He laughed at Cassandra's angry face-expression, while fishing for Maximus' rein.  
"Ready to travel in some Flynn Ryder style?", he asked and I somehow had the feeling that this speech actually lifted some of the tension, which had been on Varian the whole time before.

"Okey.", he said, some curious spark in his eyes, "But please tell your girlfriend to stop making promises..."


	5. Chapter 5

Hello, everyone. ^~^

First: I'm so sorry, that you had to wait such a long time for the next chapter. T_T

There's still lots of work to do, so chapter 6 might also take some time until it will be finally uploaded. But at least, it's already in progress. (I guess, thing are getting better slowly... X,D)

Thank you all so much for your patience. ^/^~

Hope, you enjoy the next chapter and: So much love to all my readers, and followers again! Thanks for your comments and favs. ^3^

Cya soon, Eeva ^3^

****CHAPTER 5: One step closer – Part I****

When we finally arrived at our goal, it was already past midnight. I looked to the sky and had a feeling that there was something ****missing****, but I just didn't get what it was, no matter how hard I tried.

"Pretty dark place...", I heard Eugene murmur.

"And pretty quiet."

Cassandra was already attentive beyond the normal again. Her eyes searched the environment but it seemed, as if she couldn't find anything for the moment. But she was right: The place was **pretty** quiet. No sound of animals, or the wind around here. It seemed, as if the night had swallowed everything in this place...

The only one who seemed not concerned about the situation in any way was Varian. He scanned the place attentively and when he found the spot, where the strange fluid dripped out of the rocks, he walked straight over to them, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"That's even more exciting than I imagined...", he whispered in fascination. Then, he reached out for the dripping liquid, but stopped immediately, when Cassandra told him in a stringent manner, not to touch it.

"Remember, what happened to that rabbit, we met in the forest, short time ago? If it wasn't you, who tranformed it, I guess, it must somehow gotten in contact with those drops, or those rocks there... - I'm not quite sure, but I guess, you don't have an itch to find out, what this fluid could do to **you**, do you?"

She fixed Varian severely with her eyes and then turned to me the same way.

"Or to you, Raps."

I startled and then gave her a friendly 'Sorry-Cass'-Grin, but also put down my hand, with which I had just been about to touch one of those rocks, too...

Varian stayed silent, but for a moment, he stared at Cassandra, then at me and then, he turned towards his shoulderbag.

"Don't worry", he said, when Cassandra was again about to stop him, after he had pulled out some smaller test tubes, which he held straight under the falling drops to catch some of them in it.

"It's all about the proper tools, isn't it? These tubes are boosted, so they should last."

He waited until the first tube was filled with the shiny blue liquid dropping slowly down from the dark rocks in front of him. Then, he put a cork on the tube and placed it carefully next to him.

"See? It's working.", he said, without looking at any of us. Instead, he started filling the next tube and watched the drops slowly fall down inside the glass.

"That was no big deal, anyway."

"That's great, Varian!" I felt something between excitement and relief, when he put a cork on the second tube, too.

"But why haven't the other scientist been able to keep the drops inside anything until now, when the answer is actually **that** easy?"

"Maybe, they didn't have boosted glass?", Eugene opinioned.

"Or maybe, they're no real scientists after all..." Varian chuckled, but it didn't sound very amused at all.

"Wait a second!", Cassandra scanned teh environment, while listening closely to the silence that surrounded us, "Did you hear that, too?"

"What? Please don't say, there are some more of those monster-animals, Cass..."

"No. It's more like... - **Watch out****!**"

Before I could react in any way, Cassandra had already pushed me aside and against Eugene. While we were stumbling behind her, she headed to Varian, to pull him away from the rocks. And just as she had put the alchemist out of range, there was the loud, cracking sound of breaking glass and the tubes, Varian had used to fill in the drops, bursted into pieces and spread the liquid all over the place.

"Are you okey, Blondy?"

Eugene examined me all over and so did I to him.

"I'm glad, you're alright. What's with the others?", I asked, when we both found out, that neither the glass, nor the fluid had hit us both.

"Cassandra? Varian? Are you okey?" I looked over Eugene's shoulder and realized, that my friends at least **seemed** to be unharmed. However, what made me worry, was the way Varian stared at Cassandra: Eyes wide open, he first watched her with something between 'Thank you' and confusion. And then with scientific curiosity, when his eyes spotted a certain point on her chest.

When I saw the dark spot on her chest, too, I was so worried about my friend that I couldn't help, but run over to her and start fumbling around with her pullover.

"Pull out that pullover, Cass! Quick!", I urged her untill she stopped me by retaining my fingers.

"Stop, Raps! I'm alright! Just slow down a little...", she said, and after letting go of my hands, she started searching for something underneath her top.

When she finally pulled out a colourful piece of jewelry, it wasn't only me, who stared at it in mere astonishment, as this necklage looked very similar to the one, Varian had given to her on the day of the science-contest...

"Just don't think anything wrong about it, okey... - **None** of you!", she said and started to examine the trinket closely.

The Cassandrium in the middle was still shimmering in different varieties of purple, but a closer look showed, that there was something moving **inside** the stone. In fact, it was like there was some kind of strange **fluid** circling around inside of the stone...

"That's it! Quick, Cassy, I need that necklage of yours!" Varian held out his hands in demand for the trinket and Cassandra gave it to him.

"I can't believe, you're still wearing it...", he murmured more to himself, "But, it seems, that this is just what we needed."

Varian placed the Cassandrium on the ground under the rocks and we all watched with growing tension, how the drops fell onto the stone – and sank into the purple material immediately!

"Now, that's truly something interesting, isn't it? The Cassandrium seems to absorb the drops from the stones... Due to the size of the material, there probably will not be a lot of testing material left – Sad, but that's okey. It will have to do so far..."

Varian continued watching the drops fall down and sink into the smaller stone and after a few more seconds, he took the necklage from under the rocks and examined it carefully.

"I guess, I can work with that.", he said, and circuitously pulled a small wooden box out of his shoulderbag to place the necklage in it.

"Let's go back then.", he demanded, while shoving the small box back into his bag, "There's still lots of work to do."

With those words, Varian got up and walked past us very quick paced into the direction where we had come from. The rest of us just followed – wondering, where this 'back' he was talking about might actually be.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey, everyone! :D

I'm back. X,D

I hope, you're allright and not suffering from the summer heat outside too much...^^~

So sorry, that the chapter took me such a long time. And then, it's such a 'filler-chapter'... VV''  
Next time, there will be a cover, too. And a little more emotions again. And then we continue with some action. :D

I guess, it won't take me too long this time, until the next upload can be done. So, until then enjoy reading and have a very wunderfull time, wherever you are. ^~^

Love, Eeva

**CHAPTER 6: When Seven becomes Three**

When we finally arrived at Old Corona, each one of us was as astonished, as if they had just seen a Dragon, or something as fantastic as such. Especially, when Varian turned towards the place where his old laboratory had been, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. I asked myself, if he **really** wanted to go back there after all the things that had happened...

Varian must have read my thoughts somehow, because suddenly, he changed direction and led us into a part of the village, which seemed quite abandoned. Strangely, there seemed to be less of the black rocks, than in any other part of Old Corona. Actually, the rest of the village was full of those rocks. Everywhere, they stuck out of the ground, shattering the ground, wells and even houses. But not here and that was strange enough...

Despite of the questions in our minds, none of us said a word, as we walked past the nightmarish scenario. Even Eugene and Cassandra were not in the mood to argue for once...

"This way.", Varian conducted and we followed.  
For one single moment, the thought appeared in my head, that all of this might just be fake. A trap, Varian had settled for us to finish what he had started one month ago. But as quick, as the thought appeared, I banished it from my mind again. How could he have prepared anything, when all the time, he had been with us? Sure, planning works in silence – but no. Even after all that he had done, I refused to believe in the alchemist as a bad person. Couldn't he have stayed in prison, instead of agreeing to help me – no, us – to finally save Corona an the rest of the country, too? And: Didn't he have the chance to run away for more than one time during our journey? Or the chance to take his revenge during the time we tavelled together?

He did.

But Varian was still here with us. And no one got harmed in any physical way...

Cassandra scolding Varian for putting me in danger sure wasn't the best thing she could have done so far. But seen from her side, it was the right thing, as she had put herself in charge to protect me, her friend and princess. Anyways, I still don't even think, that she really **hated** Varian. Not even for trying to kill her a few weeks ago. Why in the world should she continue wearing the necklage, Varian gave to her on the science-contest then? Cassandra wasn't the person to forget to put off such things after really finishing with somebody...

"Hey! Hey, kids!"

All of a sudden, a very well-known voice from behind us made us turn – and when we faced the source of the voice, Shorty welcomed us with a big, broad and toothless grin.

"Hey, princess.", he grinned, "Now, that's some kind of nice coincidence, isn't it? What's ya doin' down here in Old Corona? Got some business left?"

He walked over to the seven of us.

"Hey, wait... If that's not Quirin's son there... Aren't you supposed to be in prison after bulldozing Corona with those crazy machines last month?"

Oh, my... That wasn't all that good...

"Heeeey, Shorty...", Eugene was the first who was able to react to our old friend. Quick, he walked over to Shorty, while Cassandra and I prepared to react to some eventual actions from Varian's side. To my surprise, nothing happened. The alchemist stood still, his blue eyes fixed on the old man, but not a word came out of his mouth.

"Nice seeing ya, too, old boy", Eugene meanwhile took care of our unexpected visitor, "Look, it's great, that you're here, but we actually don't have the time to talk now..."

"Why?"

"Because... ehrm...", Eugene looked at me as if begging me for help.

"Because, we're on a mission."

The words had left my mouth even before I could properly think about what I was saying.

"Cool! And what kind of mission is it? Do you need help? Want me to join ya?"

"Some kind of **Nobody-should-ever-know-where-we-are-mission**!"

Cassandra answered before I could make things any worse. I was so thankfull, because, she was right: Nobody should know where we went. At least, not until the mission was done and the mystery of the moonessence was solved...

"Why don't you just shout a little **louder**, so everyone might just **hear** where we are?", Varian asked and seemed even kind of **amused** about the whole situation.  
I felt a shiver running down my spine, when a saw the cold smile on the boy's face. Something really must have happened to his mind, after I rejected his request for help. Something really, really bad...

"Oh! Big party, that's great!"

Shorty didn't seem to understand what Varian had wanted to say and, of course, he raised his voice while continue speaking.

"I'm pretty sure, the others will be glad to -", he nearly shouted, unless Eugene simply put a hand over his mouth to make him shut up immediately.

I'll take care of it.", he said and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Fortunately, Shorty wasn't all that big and heavy, so Eugene was able to carry him under one arm, while keeping his mouth shut with his other hand.

"Are you sure?"

I was worried, but Eugene simply nodded and gave me a self-confident grin.

"Don't worry, Blondy, I'll find you... I'm still the big Flynn Rider, who can handle any kind of problem without any problem, you know?"

He laughed, but I felt it, too, that he wasn't all that sure about his words himself.

"Come back, soon.", I said, after kissing him on his cheek, "And don't get caught by the guards, okey."

"Who? Me?", Eugene laughed again, "Never ever."

Then, he turned to Cassandra.

"Hey, Cobra-Lady. Keep a snake-eye on her, untill I'm back again, okey?", he demanded before he put himself and Shorty on Max's back and left the scene waving back at us.

"Are you done?", Varian asked after Eugene had left us standing in the small alley, where shorty had found us, "Fine. Then let's continue walking. In the middle of an alley, it might just be a little difficult to examine the drops inside the stone in the box..."

He turned and continued walking without any further comment. Cassandra and I hesitated for a moment, because we weren't quite sure, if it was a good idea to follow the boy as blind as we did until now. She too had seen the expression on his face, when Shorty talked to him abut Quirin and the things that had happended one month ago...

"We have to trust him. At least a little...", I took a deep breath and looked at Cassandra, standing still next to me, "He knows more about the black rocks than anyone else in Corona... - And he's still here with us!"

Cassandra stared at the spot where Varian had stood the last few minutes.

"However, we should still be careful.", she said, "Now, come. Let's continue this crazy journey, before we loose his track..."

"Okey."  
I smiled crookedly, while Cass and i followed the alchemist to wherever the way should take us in the next few minutes...

The building was small and looked quite old and a little shabby from the outside. But the rocks didn't seem to have reached the place yet. Also, I realized, that we were a little outside from Old Corona, when we finally arrived at what seemed our destination for the present.

"An old barn?" I was slightly irritated.

"Yes. I'm sorry, princess. I know, you are used to something **better**, but if you still want to solve the mystery behind the strange fluid coming out of the rocks, this old barn will have to do for the next few days."

Varian looked at me with a poisonous sweet smile, before he turned again and started rummaging around under a big stone next to the front door of the barn.

"I hope, it's still there.", he said, obviously searching for something pretty important.

"Ha! I got it!"

He pulled out a small key from underneath the stone and walked over to the smaller door, which was integrated in the big frontgate of the barn.

"So, that's why nobody lives here!", I said, when he put the key into a small lock at the door.

"You're just that **smart**, princess..."

Varian chuckled deprecative, but silenced immediately, when Cassandra gave him a glance wich could freeze even hellfire.

When he finally managed to open the door, the smell of old wood an dust met our noses and made Pascal sneeze.

"It's okey, Pascal.", I said in a lower voice, while being occupied to get rid of some spider's webs.

Inside the building, there was only a little amount of light, which fell through the rifts of the wooden walls around us. But Varian clearly seemed to know his way through the room and towards an old ladder, which led into the first floor of the building.

And Cassandra did, too.

"This is the place, where we met each other for the first time.", she explained to me, when she realized the questions in my eyes.

"Varian and I. He was about six years old and running from some wild dogs, which obviously didn't like the idea to be domesticated by the collar, he had made for them."

"I remember, your wooden plank hit them very hard until they became too many and we had both to run for our lifes..."  
Cassandra's lips curled a little, when Varian suddenly joined our conversation.

"We had to sit up here all day, until the dogs got bored by barking at a ladder and went away on theyr own."

My lips curled into a warm smile, too. I tried to imagine, how they both must have looked when they were still children. Dismiss the fact, that Varian still was a child. They both must have been pretty cute, sitting up there in the heyloft together, waiting until the dogs loose interest in them.

„I was five hours late for dinner. Don't ask, how peeved my da was that evening..."

Cass chuckled and Varian couldn't help, but smile, too.

We climbed up the ladder which led to the heyloft, leaving Fidella down on the ground floor.

But, to my surprise, up there wasn't any hey, or food for animals on a farm.

The room was fully build into a real chamber with furniture, shelves – and even a small bed!

"Could use a little cleaning...", Varian whispered to himself, when he opened a small window on the other side of the room. Fresh air and light pressed into the room and swirled the dust on the shelves and the rest of the furniture.

Now, I recognized some smaller glass containers and test glasses on one of the small tables. Next to the testing materials lay piles of books. Most of them were about the adventures of Flynn Rider, while others seemed to be scientific books or about Alchemy.

"Wow... -Oh! Hello, who are **you**, little Cutie?"

I put up a small plush toy, which was sitting next to another pile of books on one of the shelves on the wall next to Cass and me. It had the shape of a racoon and it seemed to have been a really good friend to someone once. Its left ear and one of the beady eyes were missing and dust lay in several layers on the once shiny grey fur of the plushy.

"Pancake!", Cassandra seemed again to remember something, when she examined the little plush-racoon.

"Varian always had him with him, before he found Rüdiger..."

"Hey! Put - Put that back!"

Varian nearly ran into the three of us when he stumbled and almost fell over his own feet, because of too much hecticness. He ripped the toy out of my fingers and placed it back on the shelf where it had been before.

"We don't have time to play now...", he said, his cheeks bright red, "We've got work to do, remember?"

He didn't manage to look at Cassandra or at me. Instead, he turned towards the table with the alchemistical tools on it and started blowing off the dust that lay on the place.

"And what do we have here?"

I picked up a small package. It was wrapped in some kind of harder paper, but seemed formable, when I carefully started squeezing it.

"I'm sure, that's som more kind of super-cool interesting Alchemy-stuff, isn't it?"

"No.",

Varian seemed all unimpressed. "It's butter.", he explained, "Just normal butter. - But, it's good, you finally found it. I'd been searching for it quite a while last time, I had been up here..."

"You know, how to make butter on your own?", I asked.

"Of course, I do. I had to help my father with the household from time to time... - Besides: It's pretty simple. Just some particles which change their form from fluid to hard, if you churn them long and fast enough..."

"That's great, Varian! Then you sure know, how to cook, too, don't you?"  
Again, the words left my mouth without thinking. Maybe it was because I didn't realize, how hungry I was until now, as we hadn't eaten too much the last few days...

"Shall we make something good all together, then?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yes: No. Or do I look like some kind of housewife to y-"

"Varian!", Cassandra interfered, before one of us could say anything more, "It's okey, Varian. It was just a question."

"But, the princess and I are not friends anymore. Did you already forget that...?"

"I'll cook something for all of us.", Cassandra finally said, without answering Varian's question this time.

"Then, I'll help **you**, Cassandra."

"Thanks, but no, Raps... I can do this on my own. I'm still a maiden in wait, too,aren't I? Besides, we'll first have to search for some food somewhere, as our reserves are completely gone by now..."

She rummaged around in her pockets but found nothing left to eat in them.

"This means..."

"Yes. I'm sorry, Raps. But one of us will have to go search for something to eat,before we starve..."

"And you're going to do so."  
I eyed my friend carefully. Cassandra nodded.

"I'll take Fidella, so I'm faster. And alone, it's less striking than the three of us."

She looked at me, and then turned to Varian.

"That means: I'll have to leave you both here alone for a little while. If you plan to do anything bad to Rapunzel, be sure, I'm going to find you. And then I'll do the same thing to **you**. - Understood me?"

Varian said nothing. He wasn't even able to stand her gaze. When the tension in the room finally began to get really uncomfortable, I was the one who had an answer for both of them:

"It's allright, Cass. You don't need to worry about me. I'm pretty sure, Varian won't do anything bad to me, while you're absent."  
I smiled confidently, while Cassandra still seemed insecure, wheter she could leave us alone, or not.

"Don't worry, Cass! You said, you won't be away for too long, didn't you? Varian and I will get along with each other like brother and sister during your absence – I promise!"

Now, I had convinced her. Cassandra sighed, but nodded, as she finally seemed to trust my words, while Varian just rolled his eyes and turned away from us.

"I won't do anything.", he said, while arranging his working table, "but, just stop making those **stupid promises **again, okey..."


	7. Chapter 7

Hello, hello. :)

I'm back with a brand new chapter of the story- or better: With THREE new chapters. :D

Again, it took some time, that's why I decided to upload a little more than usual this time. As you might figure out during reading the chapters, we're coming closer and closer to the end of the story... So, enjoy reading and keep me company. Thank you so much. :D

Cya soon.^^

Love, Eeva :*

**CHAPTER 7: One step closer – Part II**

After Cassandra and Fidella had left us alone in the barn with Varian, Pascal and I lay on the small bed in one corner of the room and counted the spider's webs on the beam above our heads. Meanwhile, Varian was working in another corner of the room. He was analyzing the liquid from the stones. Alone. I had asked him, if I should help him with his work, but the answer was no.

I'm not the person, to accept denial like that so easily, but meanwhile, there had been enough aggression and quarreling since the day, our friendship went down the drain. So, I decided to wait, untill he **might** need my help...

Until then, I would probably continue counting webs above my head.

When I had just reached number 27, I suddenly heard a loud rumbling from the other side of the room. Then the rattling of chains and Varian, who whispered curses into his collar.  
"What's wrong?", I asked, quickly getting up from the bed and walking over to the alchemist.

"Nothing.", he snapped, but I could see clearly, what had happened. Some of the testing glasses had fallen down and a strange kind of liquid was spilled over a pile of books and paper, which seemed to contain alchemistical notes and research.

"Oh, my... Let me help you clean up.", I demanded, but Varian quickly shook his head and tried to block my way to the desk by stepping between me and the table.

"Don't take it the wrong way, but **don't** help me, princess. We've only got a small amount of Essence of Darkness left here, so if too many people are baking the bread, it might all just end up in a gigantic mess, you know..."  
Essence of Darkness? Did he mean the strange liquid, which came out from the black rocks?  
I stepped back and started to wonder, what else Varian was hiding from us.  
Sure, the young alchemist was a pretty smart cookie, but even for him it should have been simply impossible to find out so much about the liquid in such a short period of time, to already have a proper **name** for them by now...

"What? My researches went further than you know...", he grinned. That meant, he really already **knew** what kind of liquid he was testing here?!

"At least until things happened and I was sent to prison... Aaand, sadly, I haven't had the chance to come closer to those rocks excreting it, back then. Now, I was able to. Thanks to you, princess."

He grinned again and a cold shiver went down my spine. Did he really have a plan for all of this, again...?

"What's wrong? You're a little pale, your Highness... - Are you scared of the 'evil alchemist' again?"

Varian started laughing, but calmed down just another second later.

"Don't worry. As I have already said: My researches about the black rocks went very deep towards the end. You might already call it some kind of a small obsession... - But still, I only **read** about it. A lot of books, 'though, but still only books. So, my actual experience with the material is about the same as yours: None in practical."

I believed him. Otherwise, he'd known, not to use normal testglasses on the liquid from the beginning...

"Anyway. You can't help me here. And so- Ah! No!"  
Varian turned away to continue working, but caught himself with the chains around his wrists on the edge of the table again.

"Geez...", he murmured, moving a little slower and more careful.

"Isn't it pretty uncomfortable to work with those chains on?", I asked and made Varian turn his attention towards me again.

"No", he answered and gave me a crooked smile, "Actually it's all **wonderful**. It's preventing any movement disorders, you know..."  
"You're right! That's great! So you are using your brain **and** train your motorical skills, wow..."

"Really, princess...?"

Varian gave me a glance, which showed me, that I must have been completely wrong.

"Wait. That was **sarcasm**, wasn't it?"

"Of course it was! How **comfortable** do you think it is to work with an operating range of less than 15 inches?!" Varian sighed and showed me his bonds.

"You're right.", I said, "Then, there is only **one thing** we can do right now: We have to remove that chains as quick as possible."  
"What!? Why would you... - I mean: I - It's great, because it means, I'm free again... - But how are we going to do that? Do you have any key?", he asked and I could clearly hear the hope within his words.

"Yes, I do.", I said with a smile, "Pascal..."

Pascal climbed down my shoulder and into my coat pocket. When he climbed out again, he had a small bunch of keys in his mouth, which he layed down onto my outstretched hand.

"We just have to choose the right one..."  
For some moments, I rattled around with the keys, but then I finally found the one, the guards always used to lock and unlock the handcuffs of prisoners down in the dungeon.

"Here we go!" I smiled, holding up a small bronze key in the shape of a flower. Then, I asked Varian to stretch out his arms towards me. He eyed me distrustful and hesitated first, but then he finally stepped closer and showed me the chains around his wrists again.

"They're gone in a minute, I promise..."  
"Why are you doing this?"

I stopped turning the key, which I had already placed in the tiny keyhole on the upper side of the first handcuff.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because you were supposed to help us save Corona, remember?"  
Varian looked down on the floor.

"Varian... You said, you'd help me save Corona, didn't you? But you can not help if you can not move, right? So, there's nothing wrong with it... At least, I suppose so..."

I giggled.

"Princess... You said, you were sure, I wouldn't do anything bad to you... I wonder, what made you so sure of it after all the things that happened one month ago..."

I paused again. Varian was still staring at the dusty floor, when I answered his question:

"You.", I answered bluntly, what made him startle a little, as he didn't seem to understand first, "You're not a natural bad person, Varian. Sure, you've done some things that weren't right... - But so did I."

Varian continued staring at the floor, but I felt some tension between us rising, as I continued speaking.

"I know, that I shouldn't have let you down back then. And it's still haunting me, that I couldn't help you and your father, when you needed me to... Believe me, Varian, if it had been possible at that time, I would have -"  
"Just stop it!" Varian snapped all of a sudden and pulled his hands away from me with a hard tug.

The little KLINK which followed his action sure saved us both from arguing again.

"Oh, no..." I stared down at the fragment of the key which had been left in my hand.

The other one was still stuck inside the keyhole of Varians right handcuff.

"Great...", he sighed and moved further away from me. Chains rattling and voice slightly trembling.  
"I knew something like this would happen, as you **promised** again...", he said with frustration in his voice.

But Varian wouldn't be Varian, if he didn't already have another solution to the Problem. At least, I hoped so. Events and the time in the dungeon seemed to have changed him a lot, though. But he was still a smart kid, and so, he really already had the answer before I even asked the question:

"There must be one of them anywhere around here...", he murmured, searching his desk and then the rest of the room after something that must have just come to his mind.

"What are you searching for? Maybe, I can help you find it..."

This time, Varian said nothing and so, I helped him search the room for whatever he was looking for.

"Is this what you're searching for?", I asked after rummaging around the room for some time. I held up a small flacon which had been sealed with a thick material, probably to save the environment from what was inside the glass.

"Yes! That's it!" Varian had stopped his search and went over to the place where I was standing to get the flacon.

"That's just the thing, I need right now.", he explained, reaching out for the glass container. In his excitement and hurry, he didn't mind the shelf next to him and got stuck on its edge with his chains again.

"AH! Time to get rid of those as quick as possib- N-NO!"

Our eyes widened in shock when some of the books, laying on the shelf fell down and hit my hand, so that I lost the small flacon. Both of us tried to catch it, but while Varian was still handicapped by his bonds, I simply wasn't fast enough. Luckily, Pascal was on the spot and catched the glass with his tongue before it could hit the ground and break.

"Thank you, my friend.", I praised him for catching it and petted his small, green head.  
"Take that out of your mouth!"

The three of us got startled at the sudden appearance of the sharp voice, commanding Pascal to put the flacon out of his tongue's grip.

Cassandra rushed over to us and took it before any of us could even move. She must have just returned from her search for food and water. I wondered, how she got in here without us realizing it...

"Is that what I think it is?"  
Her gaze lingered sharp on the alchemist, whose ears suddenly got bright red.

"We...We had a key...", he stuttered, "but it broke and..."

"And so, you decided to take **concentrated acid** instead?!"  
Cassandra frowned and for a second, I had the impression of Varian shrinking a little under her icy glance.

"Wasn't it **you**, who told me that this was **dangerous**, back then? What were you planning to do with that thing, anyways...?"

"We wanted to get rid of those stupid chains."

Cassandra's face turned pale, when she heard my answer.  
"Varian said, he would help us", I explained, "But how is he supposed to do so if he can't even move properly with those bonds around his wrists. Alchemy is something, you have to to with your hands and so it wouldn't make any sense to block them any longer, would it?"

Cassandra eyed me warily, but then sighed and turned to Varian. Startled, the young alchemist stumbled a step backwards.

"Show me your hands.", she said. Varian hesitated, but then lifted his hands and held them up towards Cassandra. Meanwhile, she had taken out a small knive from her pockets and unsealed the flacon with its tip.

A strong smell of citrus fruits striked my nose, and I have to admit, that at this moment, I really wanted to drink whatever was in that little flacon...

"Keep still...", Cassandra said calmly but also determing. She was holding the flacon above the iron ring around Varian's left wrist. Her other hand was steadying the alchemist's hands which were slightly trembling.

When she finally poured some drops of the acid into the small keyhole, Varian's tension got so immense, that he had to close his eyes, not to have to watch things any longer. Then, Cass did the same with the right keyhole, while I curiosly stared over her back. When we finally heard a gentle KLICK KLICK, it seemed, as if tons of weight fell off from our hearts. And when Varian's bonds finally fell to the floor with a loud clattering sound, even Cassandra seemed to be pretty relieved...

"What are we going to do with the rest of it?", she asked before anyone else could say a word.

"Oh, I know!", Varian blurted out and snatched the flacon right out of Cassandra's fingers. And of course, it fell right out of his hand and crashed to the ground.

"WHOA! That wasn't actually what I had in mind for it...", he said, jolting back, like the rest of us, when the acid etched a hole into the wooden floor between us which had at least the space of the triple of Pascal. When the flacon (and the handcuffs) were gone through the hole, Varian curiously peeped after them.

"Wow... It's even stronger than I thought...", he murmured a little absent – and then jolted back again, when all of a sudden a screeching shadow came shooting through the hole and past his face only a few inches.

"Owl!" Cassandra put up her arm, so the bird could land on it as he had been trained to do.  
"What do you have got here?", she asked then, examinig a paper roll which had been bound to one of the bird's legs.

"A letter?"

Cass untied the parchment and unfoldet it.

"It's a letter from Xavier...", she said, and then started reading out loud what was written down on the paper:

DEAR FRIENDS,

I HEARD WHAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO, AND SO, I'VE DECIDED TO HELP YOU AS GOOD AS I CAN. FOR THIS REASON, I READ SOME REALLY OLD BOOKS AND FOUND OUT THAT THERE ACTUALLY EXISTS A WAY TO FREE OUR KINGDOM FROM THOSE ROCKS.

I ALSO HAVE TO SAY, THAT I REALLY HOPE YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL, BECAUSE THIS WHOLE THING WONT REALLY BE TOO EASY AND CAN EVEN BE PRETTY DANGEROUS...

Banned, we stared at the paper and none of us said a single word.

AT THE TIME OF EQUINOX, YOU HAVE TO GIVE BACK WHAT ONCE HAD BEEN STOLEN. TO THE PLACE, WHERE IT HAS BEEN STOLEN...

"So, we have to give back the light at the place, where I first touched the rocks?" I scratched my head. „But how?"

"No." Varian inspected the letter closely. „We do not simply have to give **back** the light... Look here..."

He pointed at a line, which read: AND AS DARKNESS HAS GROWN STRONG IN ABSENCE OF THE LIGHT, YOU'LL HAVE TO GIVE MORE, THAN YOU GOT, BACK THEN.

"Which means, we have to give **more** light? But how are we supposed to do that?"

We looked at each other, then suddenly Varian turned his head towards his desk, where the materials of his work were still spread all over.

"The Moondrops! Of course..."

"Moondrops?"

"Yeah. I thought 'Essence of Darkness' would sound a little too dramatical, so, I would suggest to call the strange liquid from the rocks simply 'Moondrops'. Besides, it's also very easy to remember, 'though... - So, may you please excuse me then, Ladies? I still have lots of work to to and Equinox will be soon enough..."

With these words, the alchemist turned away and went back to his work, while Cassandra and I still lingered over the piece of paper, she was holding. Not seeming to understand anything, at first...

"He's right, Raps", Cassandra said later, a little worried, "Equinox will happen in only three days and we only know, what we know about the whole thing..."  
"And, if we actually have to combine the light of sun **and** moon, how are we supposed to do so then?", I asked, voice low and full of thoughts.  
Cassandra didn't give me an answer, but looked at me now with the deepest concern I had ever seen in her big grey eyes. .

"Oh...", I whispered and looked towards the desk, where Varian already had resumed working, " I guess, I know..."


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8: One step closer – Part III**

It took time untill the late evening, but finally, Varian managed to finish his experiments and researches on the Moondrops. When he came towards Cas and me, who were sitting in another corner of the room, he proudly showed us two small testing tubes which were shimmering in a light tone of violet and something blue from the inside of the crystal glass.

"That's it. These are the **only** two samples of Essence of Darkness ever held in a container. At least so far."

He turned the tubes a little and the 'Moondrops' inside the tubes softly swashed from one side to the other.

"Sadly, those are the only samples we can get, **at all**. As you know, the Cassandrium-generator vanished during the science-contest, back then, and so, all that was left of the material was the stone on Cassandra's necklage..."

His cheeks turned a bit red as he talked about the present he gave to Cassandra once. And it seemed to me, that he still had some trouble, understanding why she still had been wearing the necklage, although he had tried to kill her just one month ago...

"But it worked, and -TADAA!- here we are..."  
He closed his hands around the tubes and sat down next to us on a small box, which stood simply around.

"Oh! Wait!"

All of a sudden, he jumped up again and rushed over to his desk again. There, he carefully laid down the test tubes and rummaged around his stuff for a second.

"I almost forgot to give it back...", he admitted and pulled out a small but colorful necklage from under a stack of papers and books.

"**There** you are..."  
He went back to us and turned straight to Cassandra.  
"There's not much left of the Cassandrium, for the tubes swallowed over half of the material...", he said, holding the necklage towards Cassandra who seemed to be pretty puzzled about his action, "But as you seemed to like it, I put back together what I could and fixed a new Cassandriumstone for you..."

He stared down on the wooden floor under his shoes and presented Cassandra the new piece of jewellery.

No reaction.

"You... You don't like it, do you?", he asked, voice trembling. Then, he lifted his gaze and faked a smile.  
"It's okey! Never mind! I'll put it somewhere else then and..."  
Varian turned bright red, when suddenly Cassandra grabbed his arm and made him sit down next to her.  
"Where are you going?", she asked reprehensively, "You haven't eaten **anything**, since we arrived at Old Corona and you worked all day to find out, what it is all about those drops. So, for God's sake: Just sit down and **eat**."

She released his arm and put a plate infront of the alchemist whit some bread, cheese and meat on it. Then she grasped the necklage out of his hands.

"And stop running away with my presents!" With this words, she put on the necklage and hid it under her pullover again as if it couldn't belong anywhere else.

In fact, it did, I thought smiling, while Varian seemed a little confused. I knew, they had been very good friends for a very long time. And I was sure -despite the things that had happened – they still were...

So, after Varian had recovered from this 'shock', we decided to spent the evening together, mainly focusing on how to use the so called 'Moondrops' in the end. And, concerning myself, I was also thinking of Eugene. Hoping, that he was alright and would really be able to close up to us again before we had to leave Old Corona...


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9: Mission failed? - Part I**

We must have been fallen asleep somewhere during the discussion, for it was already early morning when I woke up again. Outside, the birds were singing and the sun was shining. I went over to the small window on the wall and looked outside. The sound of the birds and the weather almost made me forget, the rocks surrounding us and destroying the landscape and living space of the people in the village...

While my eyes scanned the landscape outside the window, my thoughts floated again to my beloved ones. All of them where here and somewhere out there. And that was one of the main reasons, why we had to take every chance we could get to get rid of those rocks again. Even, if it ment, that I had to put myself in danger for it...

I turned to watch Cassandra and Varian still sleeping on the floor around the candles, we had lit last night.  
If things only had been different...

Then, I walked over to one of the shelves on which lay Pascal and Owl. Cuddled together and sleeping quietly. I petted Pascal's head and smiled gently. Suddenly, my gaze fixed a small toy, sitting on the shelf next to us.  
"Pancake...", I whispered, taking the plush toy from its seat and carefully blowing away the dust. Then, I walked over to Varians desk, to search for something that would help me help Pancake. I found a needle and some thread and fixed the desolated parts of the small toy racoon.

"Far better."

I smiled and placed Pancake carefully next to Varian, who was still sleeping deeply.

"That's where you belong..."

Suddenly a loud sound from below drew my attention towards itself. And when I just arrived at the hole, the acid burned into the floor yesterday, to look down, a well-known shape came up the stairs with a rumbling sound.

"Blondie! Cobra Lady!" Eugene seemed to be a little out of breath, when he stumbled up the ladder and towards me and the others.

"Eugene! I'm so glad, you made it!"

I leaped into his arms and kissed him on the cheek.

"Me, too, Blondie", he gasped and kissed me back, "But now is not the time for a happy reunion, sorry..."

"Hey! What's all the yelling for?"

Cassandra got up yawning and stretched her arms.  
"Things were definately more quiet as long as you weren't there...", she said and gave Eugene an icy glimpse.  
To my surprise, Eugene didn't start a wordfight this time. Instead, he catched his breath and started explaining:  
"Now is not the time to discuss, either", he said, "We've got to leave this place. Now."  
"What?!"  
"Your father, Rapunzel... He found out what we are going to do. And where we are..."  
"WHAT?! But... HOW...?"

"I don't know. But fact is: King Frederick himself is on his way to Old Corona. And he brought along his royal guards to arrest us."

"NO!"

Varian made us turn our heads towards the young alchemist all at the same time. He was already fully awake, but still sitting on the floor where he had slept the night before.

"Varian. Please calm down... No one's gonna hurt you..."

"No! Didn't you just hear what he said? The king is coming to Old Corona, because he knows where we are. And he's going to arrest us. - But, I for my part won't let that happen. Not again..."

He jumped up from the floor and rushed over to the desk, where he started collecting his things in preparation to flee.

Just when he had packed half of his belongings, we heard a loud cracking sound from the barn below us and then my father's voice.

"Rapunzel!", he shouted over the sound of trampling boots on dusty ground, "I know, you are in here somewhere. And I also know, who is with you."  
I swallowed hard, for, unlike myself, my father hadn't 'forgiven' Varian his deeds from last month. And he never would. Which meant, he was pretty eager to put the alchemist back into the dungeon...

To not let that happen again, I had promised Varian when I had asked for his help a couple of days ago. And this time, I was eager to **keep** my promise. Which would be very difficult, because Varian didn't seem to believe in my effort, as he now looked at me with eyes that simply said: Liar. And, when finally the first guards had climbed up the ladder and started floating the room to get us caught, he quickly closed his bag and ran over to the acid hole in the ground.

"Never again.", he said – and jumped hard on the planks to break through the rotten wood and fall down to the floor underneath us.

"Varian!"

I ran past the guards and Eugene and kneeled next to the opening which was now the size of Maximus or Fidella.

"Blondie!"  
"Raps!"

"Princess!"

Ignoring the voices behind me, I looked down the hole and sighed in relief, when I heard the sound of rustling straw down below and then the shouting of the other guards to get him, while Varian ran all the way past them and out of the barn door.

"Let me go!", Cassandra shouted somewhere behind me and the sound of klicking metalrings fully brought me back to reality.

I turned and watched in terror, how the guards had put my friends in chains and now where slowly approaching me, too.

"Raps!", Cassandra's voice lifted the paralysis from my limbs, "Don't let them get you! You know, what has to be done. Even if it is the most stupid idea you've ever had..."

She smiled and tried to struggle her way out of the grip of the guards who had arrested her and Eugene.

"I don't know, what she's talking about, but: Cobra Ladie's right", Eugene shouted and smiled at me cheering, "Don't lose your aim. And don't mind us right now. I'm sure, your father might not be that mad with us..."  
He peered over to the ladder, where my dad had just stretched his head into the chamber. He wasn't amused at all, when he saw me standing next to the hole in the ground, and when I looked him in the eyes for a short moment, I clearly could see the dissappointment in his features...

"I'm sorry, dad...", I said, "You know, I truly love you... - But you also know, that I **have to do this**."  
I stretched out a hand and cought the small testtube, Cassandra had just thrown into my direction, and after putting it save into my pocket, I jumped down the hole, too, with Pascal hard on my heels.


	10. Chapter 10

Welcome to a new Chapter! :D

As you might realize by reading this chapter, the story slowly draws to a close. I hope, you enjoyed the adventures of Rapunzel and her friends so far and had your fun, reading about Flynn Ryder tattoos on someones buttocks, mutated rabbits, essence of darkness, 'Pancakes' and a bunch of pretty good friends.

Have a nice time - and see you in the next Chapter!

Love, Eeva ^^

**CHAPTER 10: Mission failed? - Part II**

RAPUNZEL!  
My father's voice died away behind me, when I left the barn and ran away, to the bushes, which surrounded the barn not far away. Behind them, there was the forest, and although I feared the dark and chilling athmosphere in there a little, this would be my hiding spot until my father and the guards would have given up following me.  
I knew, I had to be quick and always alerted, as my father wouldn't stop following me that easily. Not, until he got me. Or us.

I caught myself, how I was looking for Varian from time to time. After escaping the guards in the barn, he must have run into the forest, too. It was the most possible thing to do. But I wasn't lucky enough to find the young alchemist, and so Pascal and I had to continue our getaway on our own.  
At least, Pascal was still there with me, so I wouldn't feel all alone...

Almost out of breath, I sat down on a stone.  
"I'm sorry, my friend. But I can't go on another step right now anymore..."  
My feet felt sore from running and my lungs seemed to have lost all Oxygen at once. I knew, that I had to find a hiding place, as soon as possible. But where? Further, I was too worried about my friends. Father seemed so angry and mad at us...  
Maybe, I should have stayed and helped them. But until Equinox, there wasn't a lot of time left. And, if sun and moon didn't combine and touch the magic stoneplate together in that night, things would become even worse, than they already were...

"Oh, Pascal...", I cuddled my face against the small chameleon and Pascal cuddled back. "I'm so sorry for how everything went wrong again... I probably should have stayed and helped Eugene and Cassandra. And, I think, Varian was right, to run away and not to trust me anymore. They would have caught him, too. And then, they would have put him back into the dungeons. And I would not have been able to do anything anymore. I'd let him down again, like I let down my friends..."  
Pascal cheeped gently and pressed his head against my cheek.  
"You're right. I can't just sit around here wailing and doing nothing. Eugene and Cassandra have been arrested to give me a chance to go on with our mission. I won't let them down. I won't let **anyone** down, never again."

I stood up from the stone and took a deep breath. Yes. This time, I would keep my promises and everything would be alright in the end.

"The stone is about two days travel away from here. If we hurry up a little, we'll make it there right in time for equinox."

I turned to the north. Or, at least, I supposed, it was north to where I turned. Otherwise, I would only have gone further away from my goal and then, our mission would have completely failed.

I marched on for about half an hour, when it suddenly began to rain. The rain got stronger and stronger and soon, we were all drenched like wet cloths.

"Look, over there!" I pointed at a small caveentrance. We had to get ourselves some shelter from the rain, because in the meantime, it had grown that strong, you couldn't even walk safe on the forest floor. Everywhere was slippery, wet foliage and muddy soil, which either made you slip, or get stuck inside.

"Let's seek some shelter. Maybe, the rain will stop soon enough and we will be able to continue our journey without further problems..."

We stumbled over to the cave and entered the stonebuilding. Inside, it was warm and somehow comfortable. Searching the walls with my hands and the floor with my feet, I actually found some old torches and... fur?

Tapping carefully with my feet infront of me, I felt some thick and soft material below. When I finally managed to light one of the torches, I realized, that this was actually fur. I looked around the cave – which was actually bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. There were some pillows in a corner and another fur on the floor. Even a small fireplace was in here...

"Pascal!", I squeeked happily, "You know, what this is? It's one of Eugene's old hiding places!"

Couriously, I went from one corner to the next and examined the hiding place attentively. How comfortable it was. If it hadn't been a place to **hide after stealing something from someone**, it would have been one of the most coziest places in the world, I ever knew.

"Let's wait a few minutes until the rain decreases a little.", I proposed and Pascal nodded. Even, if we stayed here for a few minutes, we would still made it in time to our destination.

I lit a small fire and sat down next to it to warm up a little. The rain outside had become stronger and staring into the dancing flames, I let my thoughts run around in my brain for a while.

There were pictures in my head. Pictures of my friends. Of my father. And of the black rocks, destroying Corona little by little...  
Then, there was Varian. Running away, calling me a liar without even saying a single word...

I couldn't even say 'Thank you' for the things, he had done for us. His knowledge about the black rocks sure was enormous and so useful...

"I'm sorry...", I murmured, still watching the small flames infront of me dance melee, while my thoughts went back to my other friends and my family.  
"I hope you're alright. All of you..."

"Rapunzel! Rapunzel!"

"What...?"

I opened my eyes and tried to sit up. I felt still a little dull, what meant, I must have been fallen asleep again...

Oh, no! How long had I been sleeping? Was it already the next day?!

I eavesdropped. The rain outside had not fully stopped, but decreased. And there were steps outside the cave now.

"Princess Rapunzel? Are you in there somehwere?"

A well known voice was calling out for me, and after a few seconds later, a still familiar face appeared inside the caveentrance. Although against the sparse light of a remaining torch and drenched like a poodle, I immediately recognized, who had come to search for me.

"Varian!" I jumped to my feet and hurried to the entrance to hug him firmly.

"You're alive and unharmed! And you're still free - and you're **here**! Thank God, you made it..."

"Ehrm... Yeah. I escaped the guards, that's quite right..." Varian seemed a little puzzled about me, beeing this happy to see him. But this time, he didn't flinch or push me away.

I let go of him and thanked him for not running away, when he had the chance to do so. But the alchemist just shook his head.  
"How could I ever do that?", he asked, but actually did not want any answer to his question, "I mean, it's not, that I didn't have had in mind to get away from here and stay a free man forever, you know... In fact, I really considered that things first, when I ran past the guards and into the woods... - But then, I saw, what they did to your friends. They put them in chains and they are going to arrest them, aren't they?"

I said nothing, but I still didn't have to anyway.

"After seeing you running out and into the woods, I observed the barn for some time and..."

Varian looked really compassionate, talking about Eugene and Cassandra.

"I'm sorry, Rapunzel."

I wondered, for I wasn't expecting Varian to apolgize at all, but I didn't say anything for the moment.

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened. I only wanted to help. And I wanted my dad to be proud of me. But instead, everything went wrong and ended up in a desaster. I didn't want that... Any of it..."

Varian looked sad. And dissappointed.

"I decided to help you, to clean up at least some of the mess, I left behind so far", he said, "Maybe, after all of this, you'd decide to... **forget** about the things that have happened... -But instead of helping, I caused even **more** trouble."

"Varian...", I know, I had to comfort him now, "Look: This wasn't your fault. I know, things went not too well in the last few hours... - But, do you know, why our friends chose to make a stand against my father and the guards?"

Varian eyed me curiously.

"For the same reason, you wouldn't let take anyone the place of the biggest Flynn Ryder Fan ever: You **believe** in him."

Varian seemed puzzled and staggered.

"Our friends, decided to block the guards from getting us arrested, because, they **believe** in us.", I explained, "Maybe, things got a little disordered at the moment..."

"But, it is still possible, to finish our mission? We can still continue this journey and save Corona, together?", Varian said then,all of a sudden, and to my surprise, he seemed pretty sure about his words.

"Yes!" I smiled cheering, when he finally seemed to have understood my words.

"Ok, then. Let's do this **together**. That is actually one of the main reasons, why I went on searching for you. You know: Saving Corona and stuff? Well, these are the things that work usually best **together**, don't they? From time to time, I had to hide from the guards, too. But then, night fell over the forest and I could continue searching. - And, as you see: I finally found you."

Varian smirked, after recounting his story, but got serious again, pretty soon, when he saw my reaction to it.

So, it **was** already evening? Or even **night**?!

"It must be around midnight", he answered my unspoken question, "But, don't worry, Rapunzel. We will make it still in time. Maybe. If the rain stops turning each and every path into muddy, little rivers in the next five or six minutes..."

"But, we have to continue our journey!"  
My thoughts were already running feverish around in my head again. There had to be a way...  
"There always is."

I looked around the cave, as if I could find an answer somewhere in here.  
"But, first...", I took Varian by his arm and led him to the fireplace. His clothes were dripping from the rain and he felt a little cold.  
"Sit down and warm up a little."

I threw some of the wood, which was piled high in a corner of the cave, into the almost fully extinguished flames. Which made them die completely.

"That didn't work very well.", Varian noted. Then, he started rummaging through his bag and threw something small into the remaining blaze which made the fire come back to life again in a small darting flame.

"WHOA! That wasn't part of the plan either... Although, it was really cool... - But: Do we... Do we even have the time for this?", he asked, but didn't seem discomforted by the warmth of the flames infront of us at all.

I nodded. We already needed a miacle to make it in time, anyway. So, why not start with dry clothes and warm feet at least...

Varian said nothing. Instead, he looked down on the earthy ground infront of him and started drawing.

"We are here", he explained, sketching the cave into the ground with a finger, "And we need to get right **there**."

He drew another symbol on the floor, some inches next to the cave.

"Our timelimit has shrunk down to two days, which means, we wont practically be able to make it in time on foot anymore, as this travelling method would take us nearly three days."

He drew some lines and more symbols on the ground while Pascal and I were watching him attentively.

"If I invented something which would make us **faster**, or if we had some **help** to get forward faster... Like..."  
"Like a **horse**, maybe?", I asked.

Varian nodded.

"The funny thing is: I didn't see Maximus coming out of the barn with the others.", he admitted, "And even, while observing the barn, there were no horses far and wide, so, it **might** be possible, that he escaped, too..."  
"You're right!", I said hopefully and patted Pascal, who seemed to have the same thought as me just right now.

"Maybe, Max is somewhere out there, too. Maybe, he's already searching for us..."

My face brightened by the thought about Max, coming to help us, although, I hoped that nothing bad had happened to him outside in this kind of weather...

"Yo! Anybody searchin' for a bloody, petulant ol' mare?"

Varian and I startled, when we heard the deep voice, coming from the entrance of the cave, all of a sudden. First, we thought, my father had found us again. But then...

"Horst!?", Varian jumped up in excitement and nearly fell over a piece of wood, which lay next to the fireplace, "I mean... **Mr**... ehrm..."

"Horst! You're here, too?" I didn't expect that, but I was really happy to see our new friend, "That's great! How did you find us? Were you following us?"

Horst grinned, while he slowly entered the cave.

"Might be.", he said shrugging, "Maybe, the boys and I were just roaming around the forest near Old Corona and then found **this guy here**, leading us straight to you, kids."

He smiled confidently and pulled Max behind him into the cave.

"Max!" I jumped up, too and the horse snickered, when I hugged him, "I'm so glad, you made it here."  
"So, this is the miracle, we've actually been waiting for." Varian looked pretty relieved but also a little surprised of things happening as they did.

"Yes.", I affirmed his words, "This sure means, someone wants us to solve the problem."

I patted Max again, then Pascal, who jumped off my shoulder and on Maximus' head. He sure was happy to see our friend, too.

"How did you two come here?", Varian asked, eying Horst and Max a little more intent, "You don't look as if you had traveled through deep muddy forest tracks..."  
"As I already said: Smart Cooky that kid.", Horst grinned again, "As a good outlaw, you - of course- **do** know some paths **apart** from the normal travelling routes..."

"That means, we don't have to wait, until the rain stops to travel on?"

"Nope."

"Great! Let's go then!"  
I was eager to leave the cave and continue our journey at once. But then the fact came back to my mind that Varian was still soaked from the rain. And Max and Horst, too.

"It's okey.", the alchemist said as if he had just read my thoughts, "We don't have any time to waste, do we?"

Max snickered again and Horst nodded eagerly.  
"If you really wanna get that whole sun-moon-thing done in time, you should hurry. There isn't much time left 'till Equinox, but a great deal of way to travel.", he said.

Now, it was Varian who nodded.  
"He's right, Rapunzel. We can't allow ourselves to hesitate any longer. What, if something happens on our way towards the magic stone? What if...", he paused and a dark shadow scurried over his features, "What, if your father finds us? If he is going to arrest us, everything so far would have been in vain..."

"He won't.", I tried to calm Varian, "I promised you, that you'd be free again, if you help me. And that everything is going to be alright. And this time, I will keep my promise. And, I already know, how to do so."  
Varian eyed me curiously.  
"But now is not the time.", I put the theme off for the moment, while walking towards the entrance of the cave, Max and Pascal on my heels, "I'll tell you on the journey. Now, let's go. We've got a kingdom to save!"


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys! :D

First of all: I wish everyone of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR. (I know: This year almost over again. XD But, as I haven't had the time to tell you earlier, I still want to wish you all the best for 2020. :] )

As I already said in Chapter 10, the story will be at its end quite soon and, well, here we are. This is the pre-final chapter of 'Look what you made me do'.

There will be also a short Epilogue, but as I'm not going to comment it separately, I want to thank each and everyone who simply read, liked, and commented the story so far **right now**.

**Thank you for staying tuned all the time. I'm so happy that you enjoyed reading. And: You're just great! :D**

If you do still have any questions, things you want to tell me, or even ideas or wishes, you want me to write about in the future, then don't be shy to tell me right away. :)

Otherwise, I hope, we'll meet again in the next or some other story. So, enjoy reading and simply have a good time. :D

Cya, soon!

Love, Eeva ^~^

**CHAPTER 11 (Final Chapter): Equinox**

Max was galloping lightning fast and the 'secret paths' (Horst had actually given us a map for!) lead us to our destination in the north within the less of time. When we arrived at the foot of the plateau, where the magic stone was, I felt a cold shiver running down my spine. This was the place, where **one false and curious touch **had started a catastrophe, no one could have ever imagined the consequences of back then…

We decided to go the rest of the way on foot and leave Max and Pascal nearby as guards, just in case, my father should manage to catch up to us too early…

A short glimpse at the dusky sky told us, that there was still enough time to walk until the day would reach its end and Equinox would be over and relieved about that fact, we continued climbing up our way towards the peak of the plateau. The leftovers of the stone surrounded by black rocks everywhere could be seen really clear from our position, although, it looked a lot more creepy than I remembered. In fact, the whole place seemed a lot **darker **and more **hostile** and I almost felt like the day, when I went down to the dungeons to ask Varian for help…

But Varian was pretty normal and – despite, he still did not seem to trust me completely – there was no hostility from his side anymore. Instead, he eyed the surrounding curiosly and also quite fascinated, but also with a trace of sorrow, concerning the enormous number of black rocks, starting to cross our way further up the hill.

"So, here is the place, where it all began?", he asked.

I nodded.

"Well… I clearly have to admit, that his really looks quite like something you actually shouldn't mess with…"

We walked on in silence and, when we had almost made it halfway up the hill, Varian suddenly stopped like he had hit an invisible wall in front of him.

"What's wrong?", I asked, as I had been totally lost in observing the descending sun until now.

"I'm not sure, but: Doesn't that sound like Maximus?"

Both of us turned around and when we spotted the reason, why Max was still snickering like crazy, we both felt a trace of despair rise…

"They've found us. But… How could this ever happen…?"

My voice was nothing more than soundless whispering, when I saw the guards running up the hill behind us, followed by my father, the king of Corona.

Varian bit his lips and said nothing. I knew, he was considering to flee again, but to my surprise, he didn't run away this time.

"That's something, that doesn't matter anymore.", he said, his gaze still stuck on the men who closed up quicker and quicker. "We have to get things done within the next about **ten** minutes, I guess? So, there won't be any time left to think about if they could find us so fast because somebody **told them where we are**, or just because of your father knows the secret paths of his kingdom better than we had imagined him to…"

He set his eyes back on me.

"We're almost there, princess", he said and smiled cheeringly while he took the test tube with the moondrops out from his shoulderbag. "Now, it's all up to you, if you know, what I mean…"

"I'll keep them at bay until you've finished what we came for. So, you'd better hurry up, because I don't know, how long I will be able to distract them successfully…"

Varian smiled and handed me the test tube. And before I could protest against it or even tell him, that I already had one of the tubes, he turned away and started running down the hill and towards the approaching guards!

I couldn't believe, that this was happening. But, yet, I also knew, what had to be done. And as fast as possible. Therefore, I forced myself not to run after the alchemist, but to turn towards the plateau again, and quickened my pace until I was nearly running.

This hadn't been part of our plan, after all. But Varian was right: There was no time left to lose. Equinox would soon be over and then everything we did would have been completely in vain…

While I was still running uphill, my fear towards the place had turned into a mixture of worry and a strong feeling of being proud of Varian, who was trying to distract the royal guards and the king of Corona all on his own right at the very moment, just to make it possible for me to reach the magic stone an save my kingdom. I was sure, if his father could see him now, Quirin would have been so proud of his son, too…

Nearly out of breath, I finally reached the peak of the plateau. And, when I walked past the black rocks which were surrounding the old stone like demonic guards, I felt my fear return, little by little.

"Be brave, Rapunzel…", I tried to cheer myself, when I finally stood right in front of the partly cracked stone, which was the source of all our problems.

"There's no way back now. Go on. Save them…"

I opened the test tube, Varian had given to me, took a deep breath - and then emptied it off the reel.

"No! Rapunzel!", I heard my father yell, when my hair finally started glowing as a reaction to the Essence of Darkness. Then, I closed my eyes and put my hand straight on to the surface of the stone. Only to realize, that **nothing **happened, when I did so.

"What… No!", I gasped and put my hand on the cold gray stone over and over again.

"Why…?"

I felt my heart beating faster and despair rising again inside of me. Could it be, that we were wrong and Equinox was already over? If that was the case, then…

"Come on!", I yelled, hitting the stone with the palms of my hands, "We brought back the light! So, why isn't it just working…?"

"Because, there really **has to be a moon**!"

Varian's voice made me stop hitting the stone like an idiot and turn over towards the noise instead.

"Stop making that face, princess!", he shouted rather amused, while he was running past the black rocks and straight towards myself. The royal guards not too far away.

"I know, it sounds a little strange, but it's not that difficult at all!"

He managed to evade the rocks, like they were nothing, and, when he finally arrived where I was standing, he stopped running and had to take a few really deep breaths before he could continue explaining.

"Look, princess…", he gasped, still a little out of breath, "You seem to kind of 'neutralize' everything coming from those black rocks. And I'm pretty sure, you're able to do so, because **you yourself are the sun**. This means: **You're magic, trapped inside a person**…"

"You mean…"  
My eyes widened in disbelief, when I finally understood, what Varian was trying to tell me.

"No, Varian. You can't do this. Remember the rabbit, we had to fight when we met Horst and his friends? We don't know, what the Essence of Darkness will do with **you**…"

"Well… Trial and error. Isn't that exactly what science is based on?"

Varian grinned, but I could feel the light tension and fear of what he was about to do, when he suddenly took my hand with his, which was actually shaking like a leaf.

"Listen, you don't need to do this, Varian…"

The alchemist shook his head.

"No. I don't need to do this. I **have **to.", he said, "Now, hand me the other test tube, please…"

"But… - Wait. You… You **knew** this would happen, didn't you?"

"Actually, I was just **assuming **it." He gave me a crooked grin and then got serious again.

"But we really don't have the time to discuss these things right now. Summarized, to the most important, there are only three possibilities left, how this might end. First possibility: One of us is going to get seriously harmed. Or could even die. Second one: **Both **of us get harmed or die. Maybe even just trying... And the third and last possibility – And also the one **I**'d like to prefer of them all – We do what has to be done together, survive all of this and save Corona."

Varian smirked uncertainly. Then, he sighed and tightened his grip around my fingers a little more.

I nodded.  
"Let's take the third one right from the start, okay.", I said and finally handed him the second test tube.

"Great idea, princess.", Varian chuckled, "Then please make sure that – whatever will happen to us in the next five minutes – you don't let go of my hand. Okay, Rapunzel?"

I nodded again, but couldn't help to feel a trace of panic, when Varian finally opened the test tube with his free hand and emptied it without any further hesitation off the reel like I had done a few minutes ago.

First nothing seemed to happen, again. But then, all of a sudden, Varian started coughing and convulsing as if he was feeling pain.

"Varian! Wha-"

"Don't!"

He cut me short before I could even **think **about saying anything else.

"Just… don't… let… go… of… my… hand…", he pressed and made me tighten my grip once more.

Suddenly, my hair started glowing stronger and I tried to focus on using the energy to make sure, Varian would stay alive and hopefully unharmed…

No matter what had happened one month ago: **He **wouldn't have to be the one who died trying.

It had to be option number three, and nothing else.

I felt painful, when I saw the alchemist still coughing and trembling from whatever was happening to him at the moment. It looked as if he was really going to die for a few more seconds. But then, all of a sudden, he stopped being unwell and began to steady himself again.

**There really has to be a moon…**

The words were still running in circles through my mind, over and over again, when I watched in deepest astonishment, how Varian's hair was slowly turning into a bright and shining icy cold **blue** – just like the black rocks did, everytime, I touched them. The color of his skin had faded completely into an unhealthy pale white and the freckles on his cheeks and around his nose had also turned into little icy blue glowing spots, while his eyes were looking kind of glassy and absent, as if he was looking right through me…

I couldn't help but stare fascinated for a moment at what I saw. But even more than fascinated, I was **worried** about the boy who really was risking his own life again, to keep his promise and help me to save Corona and its people.

I forced myself to look away and into another direction. And when I finally managed to, I realized, that even my father and the guards had stopped chasing us and were watching everything from a save distance now.

"Ready?", I asked, turning back to Varian again, who now seemed to look at me attentively.

"**Ready**."

Without any further hesitation, I grabbed the alchemist's other hand, too and put all four of them onto the magic stone at the same time.

"**Princess!**"

"**RAPUNZEL!**"

The sound of the swirling wind that followed, as soon as our hands had touched the cracked surface of the stone, wiped away the callings within less than seconds and soon, Varian and I were surrounded by a powerful storm of magic energy and light that was at least three times as strong as the outburst when I had touched the black rocks around the stone for the first time…

"Hold on, Varian!"

I pressed our hands stronger against the cold surface, when I felt Varian getting a little weaker as the storm was now closing in on **us**, as if the magic stone wanted to protect itself against us…

"I will!", Varian shouted over the enormous sound of the wind that grew stronger and stronger, "if you just don't let go of me now…!"

He grinned but I could already see some exhaustion in his features. Unlike me, he wasn't **born **with magic and so, already seemed like a miracle to me, that the young alchemist was still alive and even able to talk to me…

"Just a little longer, Varian! It's working!"

Meanwhile, the storm had gotten so loud, that it began to hurt our ears, but some of the black rocks around us already began to crack and then to break apart. Bursting, they scattered their pieces all over the plateau, where the specific parts immediately turned into glimmering black and blue dust, as soon as they hit the ground or anything else.

"It's really working!"

Enthusiastic, I smiled at Varian, who faintly smiled back at me but still was able to stand his ground.

Then, all of a sudden, the magic winds completely disappeared – and the cracked stone underneath our hands began to glow!

If someone had asked me to describe, what it looked like to have the light of sun and moon **together **in one place: Well, **this **was basically it.

But, as soon, as the light began to shine, the cracks in the stone got bigger and deeper until the light disappeared again and the stone itself shattered into millions of little pieces scattered by an enormous energy, which simply swept us off our feet, because none of us had ever expected a reaction like this.

"Rapunzel! Help!"

"Varian!"

The explosion had separated us but while I had been lucky enough to land on solid ground, Varian had been blown right over the edge of the plateau!  
Luckily, he had been able to grab a strand of my hair during the explosion and therefore shouldn't have fallen all the way down from the top…

I fixed the strand on a normal rock and walked over to the edge of the plateau.

"Varian? Are you alright?", I asked, leaning forward, to look down to where I at least supposed to find him…

"Are they gone?", Varian asked, gazing up at me as he was really hanging just a few meters below, his right hand and parts of his forearm tightly curled with my hair.

The short separation must have broken the magic bond between us, for his appearance had nearly fully returned to normal and so, I could see clearly the hope in his big blue eyes, when he asked me the question.

"Yes…", I chuckled and felt tons of weight falling from my heart right at the very moment, "Yes, they're gone…"

"Well… **That **has been quite a piece of work now, hasn't it?"

True, Varian sounded quite fatigue, but he chuckled, too, and then we laughed together for a moment.

"So, princess Rapunzel", he said suddenly a little more serious again and then smiled up at me in a way, I first couldn't interpret clearly, "I've kept my promise to help you and save Corona… Now, it's time for you, to keep your promises, too."

We both heard the sound of footsteps coming closer right behind me, but instead of turning towards the guards, I kept staring at the alchemist in mere confusion, when he refused to respond to my efforts in trying to pull him up the cliff.

"Wait. What do you mean?", I asked, even though, I already knew the answer all by myself.

"No. Varian…"

He was grinning sheepishly at me, while slowly trying to untangle the hair around his arm.

"No, Varian! Please **don't**… I **promised** you, that you'd stay free… - And this time, I am **not **going to break my promises. No matter, what consequences it will have… - Please believe me!"

Varian eyed me attentively and chuckled again.

"I know, princess.", he said gently – and then simply let go of the strand in his fingers.

"**VARIAN!**"

I bend forward, trying to catch him and prevent him from falling further down but was totally unable to reach him. Before I could throw my hair after him, or even jump after him, I was already pulled backwards, away from the edge of the plateau, and so the last thing I saw was Varian falling downward and then disappearing somewhere into the dense treetops below…

"Rapunzel!"

My father's voice and the sounds around me still sounded far away, when I was finally pulled back to my feet.

"Are you alright, dear? Are you hurt somewhere?", he asked and examined me all worried.

I nodded and then shook my head.

"I'm okay…", I lied. My voice was weak and sounded somehow broken, and I felt a strange kind of pain rising somewhere in my chest, while I kept staring at the edge of the plateau, where I just had lost one of my friends.

Again…

With trembling fingers, I patted Pascal's head, who had just climbed on my shoulder and squeaked carefully. Next to me, I felt Maximus's nose slightly tipping against my cheek, and then my father's hand on my other shoulder, when he slowly walked next to me.

"It's **not** your fault, Rapunzel.", he said gently, trying to cheer me up, "Varian was old enough, to decide things for himself…"

"And I wasn't even able to say 'Thank you' to him for any of it."

I felt still weak and my voice still wasn't anything else than a grating whispering, when I finally managed to turn away from the scenery and walked past my father and the guards, Pascal and Max close by my side, and straight down the hill.

When I took a short look up on the sky, I realized that it was totally covered with stars. But the most amazing thing, that caught my eyes almost immediately and accompanied us for almost two nights on our way back to Corona then, was the most beautiful and brightest shining moon, that could **ever** light anyone's path back home…


	12. Chapter 12

**EPILOGUE: 'Cinnamon Sparks or: Thanks for making me do the things you made me do'**

I think, it has been the fifth or sixth day after the black rocks had been destroyed and we returned back to the castle of Corona. I'd been shut in my room for some time, trying to distract me by painting some new pictures onto my bedroom walls.  
After our return, Eugene and Cassandra, who had both been arrested during the time, I had been away from home, had become free again and I was happy, that both of them were quite alright. But although, they had both forgiven me for leaving them alone, I felt guilty towards them for quite a long time, still…

The good news of the rocks having been destroyed had also spread very fast. And soon, there had been some smaller and one big festival all over the country to celebrate, that the evil threat had been banished successfully.

Afterwards, things had returned to normal for everyone pretty soon. That is: For everyone but my friends and me. Eugene and Cassandra didn't talk about it very much, after I had told them, what had happened at equinox on the plateau. But, as far as I was concerned, I still felt like something important was simply **missing**. Actually not inside my **head** but more inside of my **heart**…

Then, one day, when I had been just about to paint another star onto the moonless sky in a corner of my room, something had come flying right through the open window of my chamber…

When I had turned to the small glowing object, I had realized, that it was one of the flying lanterns, which were really popular in our kingdom.

I put down the brush and went over to catch the unsteady flying little thing. After having actually caught the lantern, I had found out that there was a little **paper** fixed to it. I took it and after having unfolded it, my heart simply skipped a beat when I recognized the quick and unsteady but, yet pretty accurate handwriting on it…

'Dear Princess Rapunzel', it read, 'First of all: Please do NOT mistake this letter. I guess, we're still not friends (Although, I'm quite sorry for not being able to write to you earlier.)…'

I couldn't help but start to chuckle, while I was reading on.  
Of course, I thought smirking, We're **no **friends at all. **Never**…

'Anyways: I have to thank you. Not only for helping me to get out of the dungeons back then. Or for not letting me die once or twice on the journey that followed…

I know, I might not have the right to ask you for another favor, but, I guess, I still have to do so.

I think, you might remember Horst and his friends? Some of them have been caught by the guards and thrown into the dungeons underneath the castle recently. And, well, as they have been quite nice towards me after picking me up from the branch of a tree -Where I had landed after I let go of your hair (Sorry for that, too. But I wanted to make sure, that this time you'd really keep your promise…) - I thought, I'd owe them the favor to ask you, if you **might **be able to help us a little…'

I read the letter to its end and put it into a drawer of one of my cupboards.

Of course, I'd do him at least this one little favor! It was actually nothing, compared to what he had done for all of us…

That was what had happened already three days ago.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

The guards really sounded quite excited while they ran down the hallway towards the throne room.

I couldn't help but starting to chuckle, after they had run past the place, where I had hidden behind the pedestal of a column.

"What? That's just impossible!"

My father sounded frantic, when he heard the news, the guards brought to him after the doors of the throne room had shut behind them.

"But it's true, your majesty: All of the new prisoners are just **gone**!"

"And, without any trace of violence, you say? No destroyed bars, no missing stones, no tunnels or even broken locks?"

"Nothing. It's almost like… like someone had used a **key **to open the doors…"

"A **key**, you say?"  
I imagined to hear my father sigh out loud.

"A key… -Well, then we'll simply have to **accept** the fact, that they got away, I guess…"

"But-"

"I said: We will simply have to accept it…"

I smirked because I knew that my father knew, that I was listening closely to what he was saying. And I also knew, that he knew, that **I **had something to do with this 'mysterious' jailbreak…

Smiling and innocently whispering, I left my position and returned inconspicuously to my chamber.

Yes, yes. A key…

So the wooden copy of the dungeon key, which I had managed to steal from the key chamber, had reached him just in time. Great!

Wondering, if he had used some alchemy on it to strengthen it and make it really usable, I closed the doors to my room. And, when I turned, there was – to my surprise- another flying lantern waiting for me.

Carefully, I cupped the object into my hands and examined the bottom of the lantern.

"So, you're back once more?", I asked while untying another letter which had been fixed to the glowing object.

'Dear Rapunzel'

Huh? No 'princess' this time? I started chuckling again.

'Thank you for actually helping me, getting Horst and the others out of the dungeons. And sorry for not visiting, but – as you know – the current circumstances didn't allow us to stay at Corona Castle for too long…

Please, take back the key which you have duplicated so really exactly and put it into some fresh water. Then wait a few seconds and see what will happen next…

It's not too much, but I hope, you'll enjoy it, for it's the only thing, I can actually **do** at the moment, except for writing you 'Thank you' another thousands of times and that you should absolutely continue to be as you are: An intelligent and goodhearted person and a really brave princess, that would do would face even the darkest of adventures to keep her kingdom and family save.'  
A little fluttered, I had to read the final part of the letter twice, to make sure, I could believe my own eyes. Was he really calling me a good person? Even though, I still hadn't been able to keep my biggest promise towards him until now?!

He was. And this gave me the strength, I needed. The strength to continue finding a possibility to keep the promise I had made over a month ago. The strength to find a way to finally free Quirin.

'I hope, we'll meet again someday somewhere and until that day, just let's make sure, nobody will put us somewhere we don't want to be anymore, okay?

See you soon, Rapunzel – Oh! And – by the way: Greetings to Cassandra and Mister Ryder!

(You wouldn't even want to imagine, how long Horst and the others have been getting on my nerves until I finally wrote **that **down! Haha!)

Goodbye, princess. And: May the light of the sun and the moon always be with you…

Love,

VARIAN'

I smiled. And after finishing the letter, I took the little key, which had been fixed on the back of the paper.

I put it into a glass of fresh water, as it had been written in the letter, and then I waited curiously for what would be going to happen…

First, there was nothing special about the whole thing. But then, after almost a minute had passed, the key slowly began to react to its liquid environment…

Even more curious, I watched the small object starting to disperse itself. And, when its original form had finally vanished completely, it set free the scent of something that smelled like cinnamon – and an uncountable number of of little light spots that were swirling through the air around me like thousands of little fireflies - and then out of my window into the starry night.

-THE END-


End file.
